Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author.

"THE STAFFING OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS

IN NEW ZEALAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS".

A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of

the requirements for the degree of Master of

Philosophy in Education at Massey University.

Max Anthony Gerritsen

1980.

ABSTRACT

This thesis attempts to ascertain the state of staffing in

science departments of New Zealand Secondary Schools as at 1st

September 1980.

This study updates, and extends, the work done by E.J. Searle

(1954) and 0. Taylor (1965) of producing data about the staffing of

science departments in secondary schools.

ii

The survey consisted of two different questionnaire forms. One

was to be completed by the Head of Department (H.O.D.) Science while

a second form was completed by every teacher in the schools who was

teaching one or more science classes.

The questionnaires were sent to all State and Private Secondary

Schools, District High Schools and the Form 3 - 7 departments of

Form 1 - 7 Schools. A response from 70 % of the schools resulted.

The major areas for which information was obtained included:

qualifications held and qualifications relevant to senior science

subjects being taught, the percentage of trained teachers teaching

science, salaries, the resources available to the teacher of science,

the main areas of concern in science education as perceived by the

teacher of science, and information from H.O.D s about the numbers of

science teachers leaving teaching and the type of employment they

had gone to. Information was also obtained relating to class sizes,

the level of training and the teaching ability of teachers in train­

ing (i.e. those on Section and List A teachers), morale in science

departments, the extent to which science teachers have become subject

specialists and the type of people involved in part-time science

teaching.

The responses made were hand coded by the researcher, punched on

to computer discs and the necessary sorting and statistical analyses

were done by Massey University's B6700 Computer.

Listed below are some of the major findings of the project.

It seems that most teachers of science teach mainly science (81.7%)

which is a marked increase in subject specialisation since 1965.

The teacher of science is generally much better qualified than

in 1965 and 86.6% of the sample were trained teachers. Teachers

with tertiary qualifications in Education, other than the Diploma in

iii

Teaching, are quite rare (13%).

One of the major findings of Taylor's 1965 survey was that 57.7%

of the science teachers in District High Schools and F. 1-7 Schools

lacked completed degrees or diplomas.

20.5%.

This value has now dropped to

Most teachers (76.4%) are reasonably happy with their present

salary even though they do lack salary relativity with other profess­

ions having similar qualifications.

Excluding salary considerations, 64.4% of the sample were

reasonably happy with their present situation as post-primary teachers

of science. Science teachers did, however, recommend most strongly

that less class contact time, t etter equipment and textbooks, more

technician assistance and smaller teacher/pupil ratios are essential

requisites of future modifications to their present conditions.

There is a definite shortage of well-trained, well qualified

teachers which has to some extent been improved by the recruitment

of teachers from overseas. For the schools in the sample the total

shortage of science teachers was 1170 class contact hours per week.

The mean size of a science class has remained static at 23 over

the past twenty-six years since Searle's 1954 survey.

The thesis concludes with some recommendations of future changes

that the researcher feels would help improve staffing and conditions

in the science departments of New Zealand secondary schools.

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PAR!' 1

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

PART 2 1 FINDINGS

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

PART 3

Chapter 6.

APPENDICES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION

(a) An Overview

(b) Review of the literature

(c) Hypotheses and aims of the survey

PROCEDURE

(a) The survey instruments

(b) The population and sample

(c) Method of data analysis

QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING

THE TEACHER OF SCIENCE

(a) Subject specialisation

(b) Salaries

(c) Conditions of employment

(d) Science Teacher Association

(e) Numbers leaving and reasons

(f) Class sizes

THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

PAGE

ii

iv

V

vii

viii

1

9

16

24

39

52

iv

60 & 62

69

TABLE I

TABLE II

TABLE III

TABLE IV

TABLE V

TABLE VI

TABLE VII

TABLE VIII

TABLE IX

TABLE X

TABLE XI

TABLE XII

TABLE XIII

TABLE XIV

TABLE XV

TABLE XVI

TABLE XVII

TABLE XVIII

TABLE XIX

TABLE XX

TABLE XXI

TABLE XXII

TABLE XXIII

LIST OF TABLES. Page.

Schools in sample by school type 13

Teachers of science in the sample by school type 13

Major area of teaching of teachers in the sample 14

Highest academic qualification of teachers in the sample 17

Senior science classes taught by relevant qualifications held 18

Teachers in sample with qualifications in Education 19

Those in sample who lack a completed degree or diploma containing science by locality 20

Training b y school type 21

Courses attended during the past two years by teachers of the sample 22

Extent of specialisation in science 24

Teachers of science who are happy with their present salary 26

Reasons given by teachers of science for not being happy with their present salary

Salaries for each Employment Group

Percentage of unpaid overtime worked

Teachers of science who, excluding salary conditions, are reasonably happy with their present position as post-primary teachers of science

Reasons given for not being happy with their present situation by post-primary teachers of science

Frequencies of responses given to the question: "Name the one thing you would most like to see take place to improve your job as a teacher of science"

Teachers of science who are members of a local Science Teachers' Association

Science staff leaving departments in the sample during the past year

Jobs to which those categorized under the head­ing "Another Job" have gone

Mean class sizes of classes in the sample

Actual shortages, in class contact hours per week, of science teachers

Teachers recruited from overseas during the 12 months from October 1979 to October 1980

27

29

30

30

31

33

35

35

36

37

40

40

TABLE XXIV

TABLE XXV

TABLE XXVI

TABLE XXVII

TABLE XXVIII

TABLE XXIX

TABLE XXX

TABLE XXXI

TABLE XXXII

TABLE XXXIII

TABLE XXXIV

TABLE XXXV

Frequency of responses to the question: "Are you having to reduce science options to counteract shortages of science teachers?"

Staff by sex, present position and marital status

Responses made to the question: "Do you have adequate laboratories to allow all science classes to use a laboratory for 75 % of their science time", by school type

Schools with senior studies room(s) for senior science subjects by school type

Responses made to the question: "Do you have adequate audio visual aids?• by school type

Teacher aids by school type

Frequency of science department meetings in schools of sample

Staffing situation in Science Departments of New Zealand secondary schools, as seen by the H.O.D. science, by school type

Responses made to the question: "As a result of efforts to improve recruit­ments and retention the future for science departments seems ..... " by school type

Responses made to the question : "Morale in your science department is by school type

Responses made to the question: "The level of preparation and the teaching ability of List A teachers and those on section has, over the past 5 years, in general, ..... " by school type

II

Comments made by Heads of Science Departments at end of questionnaire

Page

41

42

43

43

44

46

47

48

48

49

49

50

B.A.

B.Ag.Sc.

B.Ed.

B.H.Sc.

B.Sc.

B.Sc. (Hons.)

Co-ed

Dip.H.Sc.

Dip.P.E.

Dip.Ed.

D.H.S.

F. 1-7

H.O.D.

Hons.

incom.

M.A.

M.Ag.Sc.

M.Ed.

M.H.Sc.

M.Phil.

M.Sc.

M.Sc. (Hons.)

N.Z.C.S.

N.Z.I.C.

N.Z.P.P.T.A.

N.Z.S.T.A.

Ph.D.

P.P.T.A.

P.R.

P.s.s.c. S.T.A.

T.C.

T.T.C.

%

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Agricultural Science

Bachelor of Education

Bachelor of Home Science

Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science with Honours

Co-educational

Diploma in Home Science

Diploma in Physical Education

Diploma in Education

District High School

Forms One to Seven

Head of Department

Honours

Incomplete

Master of Arts

Master of Agricultural Science

Master of Education

Master of Home Science

Master of Philosophy

Master of Science

Master of Science with Honours

New Zealand Certificate of Science

New Zealand Institute of Chemistry

New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association

New Zealand Science Teachers' Association

Doctor of Philosophy

Post Primary Teachers' Association

Position of Responsibility

Physical Sciences Studies Corranittee

Science Teachers' Association

Teachers' College

Trained Teacher's Certificate

Percentage

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,

The initial supervision for this project was given by the

late Professor C.G.N . Hill, Dean of the Faculty of Education,

viii

'Massey -'University. Under his guidance the first set of hypotheses

were developed and correspondence for financial assistance was

initiated.

After Professor Hill's death early in l980, Dr, David Sten­

house, Senior Lecturer in Education, Massey University, kindly

agreed to take over as supervisor. His extensive comments and

criticisms through a number of revisions of questionnaires, corres­

pondence and thesis drafts - especially many positive suggestions

and general encouragement (to say nothing of many cups of coffee!) -

have been deeply appreciated. During a ten week absence of Dr.

Stenhouse on overseas study leave (21/6/80 to 31/8/80), Dr. G.J.F.

Hunt, Senior Lecturer in Education and Miss Cathy Smith of Massey

University's Computer Unit provided the guidance in adapting the

questionnaires for computer analy sis.

Mr . W. Abbell of the Computer Unit helped with the comp uter

analysis of the coded material.

The Department of Education provided a grant of up to $636.00

to cover postage and computing costs. Their officers, especially

Dr. M.J. Coppen, Department of Research and Statistics, were very

helpful especially during a visit I had with them on 30th June 1980.

The major change suggested by them was that of moving from a 'manual'

analysis of the results to a computer analysis. Although the latter

has had its problems, I remain grateful to them for this suggestion.

Massey University's Education Department provided the envelopes,

paper and duplicating facilities required. Thanks are due to

Professor R.S. Adams for continuing his Department's support of this

work.

My thanks also go to:

Mr. O. Taylor whose Diploma in Education Dissertation provided

an initial stimulus and base-line for the present research.

Feilding Agricultural High School for the use of School letter­

head and for duplicating facilities.

The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry for information related

to salaries.

ix

The Post-Primary Teachers' Colleges in Auckland and Christchurch

for their work in finding information about Teacher's College

students.

The Heads of Science Departments and those teachers in their

departments, who, by their responses to the questionnaires provided

the material on which the analysis and discussion incorporated in

this thesis is based.

Mrs. Margaret Donald for the many hours involved in the typing

and presentation of this thesis and last, but by no means least, to

my wife for her understanding and encouragement over the past

twenty-four months since this thesis first began.

CHAPTER l.

INTRODUCTION.

This Chapter consists of three main sections:

(a) An overview of the thesis

(b) The review of the relevant literature

(c) The hypothese s and aims of the project.

AN OVERVIEW

This thesis attempts to ascertain the present state of staffing

of science departments in New Zealand Secondary Schools as at 1st

September 1980.

1

For some time the researcher has felt that there has been a

shortage of adequately qualified teachers of science in New Zealand

secondary schools and because of this many students are denied a satis-

factory education in science. In an attempt to ascertain just what

the present staffing position is, and to see whether it has deterior­

ated or improved some of the findings are compared with those of Owen

Tay lor's 1965 survey of s taffing in the science departments of New

Zealand secondary schools. Taylor's survey was based on, and attempt­

ed to update, E.J. Searle's 1954 survey published in his book "The

Teaching of Science in Post Primary Schools" (1958). Thus, in places

it was possible to compare the 1980 situation with what it was both

fifteen and twenty-six years ago.

While Taylor's survey concentrated primarily on qualifications

this survey looks also at training, salaries and conditions.

The thesis begins with a review of the literature followed by a

statement of the hypotheses and aims of the project.

Chapter 2 looks at the procedure that was followed. The nature

of the population, the invited sample and the data producing sample

is outlined. Comments are made about the questionnaire forms used;

the problems that arose in producing the final format of the data

collection instruments and a critical appraisal of both their re­

liability and validity. The method used to analyse the data is dis­

cussed.

The results of the survey are presented in the following three

chapters headed: "Qualifications and Training", "The Teacher of

Science" and "The Science Department".

Chapter 3, "Qualifications and Training", presents the quali­

fications held by teachers in the sample and discusses their rele-

vance to the science subjects being taught. The percentage of

trained teachers in the sample is also given and discussed.

2

Chapter 4, "The Teacher of Science", presents the information

obtained which the researcher used to attempt to answer the questions:

1. Are most teachers of science happy with their present salary and,

if not, why?

2. Are teachers of science happy with their present situation as

secondary school science teachers and, if not, why?

3. What things would the teachers of science most like to see take

place to improve their jobs as teachers of science?

4. How many teachers of science are members of Science Teacher

Associations?

5. From the information given by H. 0. Ds ·· on science teachers leav­

ing teaching:

(a) How many have left teaching in the past year?

(b) To where have they gone?

6. What sized classes are teachers of science encountering?

Chapter 5, "The Science Department", presents much of the in­

formation obtained from the questionnaire form that only the H.O.D.

completed. This chapter presents information obtained about the

shortage of science teachers in the schools of the sample, the avail­

ability of equipment and teacher aids (e.g. laboratory technicians,

laboratory monitors, accelerant teachers and remedial teachers), the

type of person available to do part-time science teaching and, finally

are listed some subjective comments made by the H.O.Ds · of science on

such topics as: teacher morale, List A teachers, the present situation

and the future of science education.

Chapter 6, "Discussion and Conclusion::; ",relates the results ob­

tained to the hypotheses and aims of the survey as outlined in

Chapter 1. Decisions are made concerning whether or not the hypo­

theses have been refuted or verified and conclusions are drawn about

the aims of the project.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

"serious erosion of secondary teacher morale and escalating losses

of able, qualified teachers from the profession have been the high-

3

lights of the 1978-79 Association year", began the Annual Report

l978-79 of the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association

(N.Z.P.P.T.A.) and it continued "The loss-rate of quality teachers

from our schools is nothing short of a professional arterial haemorr­

hage which unless promptly arrested, must inevitably and quickly re­

turn secondary education to the enfeebled and damaging circumstances

of the late sixties".

In 1978 secondary teacher losses for the year reached an all

time high of 1,659 i.e. 13.2 %, of all full time teaching positions.

The drift at that time was to occupations which were not related to

teaching. Those that were leaving were, on average, better qualified

than the teaching force overall, and the so called 'basic subjects'

of Science, Mathematics, Economics and English were being affected

most.

In his address to the 1979 P.P.T.A. Conference Mr. Wellington,

Minister of Education, pointed out what he considered were the main

points of concern as seen by secondary teachers.

Firstly, he felt that there was deep concern that secondary

teaching has become more complex. He pointed out that" .... there

is a larger more dis ruptive group of students in schools. Not only

does this place a greater strain upon individual teachers but, more

importantly, it impedes the work of the classroom teacher with the

very large majority of pupils who are keen to learn".

" ..... lessens individual job satisfaction".

This he said

Secondly, he pointed to the dissatisfaction with salary levels.

There was at that time (August 1979) an expectation of immediate

salary gains which in the last two rounds of salary negotiations had

not been met.

His third point concerned staff shortages and the burdens that

were then put on staff because of increased teaching loads and the

need to help poorly qualified colleagues.

Fourthly, he said that he was aware of the" ...• uncertainty

that is currently being generated by the problem of falling rolls -

by the uncertainty of promotion prospects within the service because

of this - by the uncertainty of tenure for individual teachers".

Fifthly, the problems associated with the knowledge of unem-

ployment among school leavers. "In this I am all too aware of the

concern this has for your students and the effect which this has on

you as their teachers".

Finally, he believed that there was a feeling among teachers

that" society , parents and employers expect too much from the

schools - they provide insufficient support and often their expect-

ations are in conflict. I think h e re of the conflict between the

demand for an improvement in the basics and a desire for a broad

liberal education".

4

There was at this time, too, the legislation based on the re­

commendations of the registration and discipline of teachers which

was soon to be introduced to parliament. Teachers were uneasy about

the real possibility that the legislation would keep effective pro­

fessionalism even further beyond the reach of teachers.

Salaries were not good at the time. From 1972 to mid 1979 the

Consumer Price Index had risen 106. 2% , nominal wage rates 107% but

the salaries of secondary teachers (e.g. top step, Group 3, Basic

Scale) had rise n b y only 69.4% (P.P.T.A. salaries circular July 1979).

Many group s had h ad spe cific adjustmen ts de signed to corre ct a n oma­

lies cause d b y gove rnme nt wage s policie s, but s e condary t e achers

needed an increase of 17.8% jus t to r e store their buy ing power to

the level of their earnings in 1972. Wage negotiations seemed to be

unproductive, "poor relativity " almost became a clich~ and teachers

were far from happy.

Statistics were widely publicised, mainly by the P. P .T.A. e.g.

"In 1978 1,659 secondary teachers left the service - the most ever.

This represented 13.2% of the teaching force. In 1978 only 1,815

new teachers started, giving a nett gain of 156 teachers - the lowest

ever. In 1978, over 23% of the teachers leaving went to jobs out-

side of teaching - the highest ever. This means that the education

of up to 120,000 children will be affected to their disadvantage'' and

so on (N.Z.P.P.T.A. stopwork meeting pamphlet '79).

Fortunately, later in 1979 wage increases backdated to November

1978 were announced and with the promise of large backpay cheques the

"bomb was defused". Salaries obtained still fell short of what the

N.Z.P.P.T.A. and most teachers wanted and no real improvements in

areas such as 'Master Teacher' scales were obtained. In fact, con-

ditions of service are still the major area needing attention.

Secondary teachers have a professional responsibility related to

that critical part of all people's lives in which the child becomes

an adult. All professions have some special responsibility towards

the development of people, but this particular field - the nurturing

of the growing-up process - is the field of the secondary teacher,

5

and of course, the parent, and to be able to perform this professional

function adequately matters more, in personal satisfaction and ful­

filment, to most secondary teachers than does the amount of money

they are paid or how that relates to what other people are paid.

This is not to say that salaries are unimportant, but professional

frustration is, or should be, more trying than anxiety about the

latest salary increment. In fact, both job satisfaction and salary

levels tend to be regarded as low, it seems, for a majority of teach­

ers - and this must be presumed to reduce their morale and effective­

ness still further.

Mr. Derek Wood, Chairman of the P.P.T.A's Principals' Advisory

Committee has pressed for new directives in education and the need

for the Government to state a clear set of priorities for education

in the 1980's to give teachers a sense of direction. He points out

that all the 1980 salary settlement did was to" ... restore some

relativity with outside professions which have attracted, and are still

attracting, teachers to leave teaching". (P.P.T.A. News, June '80).

There is certainly a need for a clear statement of policies.

Mr. Wellington however, feels that it is "politically dishonest" to

make any promises to teachers (P.P.T.A. News, June '80). But, there

must be some overall plan or changes become 'bitsy'; wild efforts

are made to cope with today or sort out the problems of yesterday

rather than diverting money, time and manpower into planning for a

well organised future. The basic educational desideratum of setting

broad aims and specific objectives seems to have been forgotten by

some who should be most able to improve the state of education in New

Zealand.

Long awaited salary increases early in 1980 made little differ­

ence to the nett take-home pay of the average teacher ($7 - $8/week).

However, as has been mentioned it was accompanied by sizeable backpay

cheques which produced a mild state of euphoria among teachers.

Now that that has probably been spent teachers look again at

their friends in other jobs who stop work at 4.30 p.m. and leave it

behind them, while they go home to prepare lessons or to mark and set

examinations. The 1980 Annual New Zealand Institute of Chemistry

salary survey points out that those involved in teaching put in far

more unpaid hours of overtime than chemists involved in any other

form of employment.

John Craig, Principal of Heretaunga College, Upper Hutt, states

in the March '80 P.P.T.A. News that staffing shortages this year are

the worst on record and already some of his teachers are working at

least 60-hour weeks to cope with the shortfall. "Last year we had

6

23 full-time teachers pass through this school - 23 teachers who left

and that is only a little bit higher than the national average".

"The taxpayer gets poor value for his tax dollars spent in secondary

education", says Bruce Webster, General Secretary of the P.P.T.A.,

w"when so many teachers are leaving secondary teaching where there is

a $100,000 training cost of a secondary teacheru.

This was, and still is, the overall picture of education as pre-

sented b y those who are critical of it. The major aim of this

thesis is to determine whether it is a substantially - or even

partially - true picture of science education. Are science H.O.Ds

finding it hard to staff their departments? Are they getting well

qualified, well-trained teachers? Are practising science teachers

happy with their conditions and salaries? What changes would they

most like to see take place to improve their jobs as teachers of

science? How many science teachers are leaving the profession and

to what jobs are they going?

This list of questions could be expanded and made more detailed -

but it can be seen that even the most general questions, and their

answers, relate to issues of great significance to this country.

HYPOTHESES AND AIMS OF THE PROJECT

As has previously been stated some of this project is based on

and attempts to update research done by others (e.g. Searle, (1952),

Taylor (1965), N.Z.I.C. (1978, 1980) and N.Z.P.P.T.A.). Thus,

wherever possible research hypotheses have been formulated which state

the researchers expectations resulting from the review of the relevant

literature.

Other aspects of this project have not previously been studied

in the way that they were here. Thus, these areas of the project

were treated as aims rather than hypotheses. In most cases the aim

was that of collecting information about the particular phenomenon

that was being studied.

HYPOTHESIS ONE

7

"That the standard of tertiary qualifications held by permanent

science teachers teaching science has improved since the 1965 Survey".

Since 1965 salary increases have been considerable (see Supple­

ments to 'Education Gazette' (1965-1980)).

It was hypothesised that the massive percentage increases to

salaries in the early 1970's along with increased Government expend­

iture on Education, which has improved conditions,would result in

better qualified people being attracted to teaching.

HYPOTHESIS TWO

"That there is a shortage of science teachers".

In his Minister's address to the 1979 Conference, Mr. Wellington

said with respect to staffing shortages that" .... the so-called

'basic subjects' of Science, Mathematics, Economics and English were

being affected most". The researche r believed that this was still

the case as no data were available to disp rove this hypothesis.

HYPOTHESIS THREE

"That science teachers have lost salary relativity with other

professions having similar qualifications".

Lack of salary relativity with other professions having similar

qualifications has usually been a major argument used by the N.Z.P.P.T.A.

in salary negotiations.

This hypothesis is tested using the results of the N.Z.I.C.

Annual Salary Survey (1980).

AIMS OF THE PROJECT

Apart from the above three hypotheses the researcher felt that

there were other areas related to science teaching where empirical

data about staffing and conditions were needed.

Thus, this project also aimedto obtain information from science

teachers and H.O.Ds about:

1. The level of tertiary qualifications of those teachers teaching

science who are teaching senior science classes.

2. The mean class sizes in science subjects.

3. Whether there has been an improvement in the level of training

and the teaching ability of teachers in training (i.e. those on

section and List A teachers), as perceived by H.O.Ds.

4. The present conditions under which teachers of science are

operating.

5. The things that science teachers feel are most needed to improve

their professional activities.

8

6. The morale in science departments as perceived by H.O.Ds.

7. The numbers of science teachers leaving the New Zealand secondary

teaching service.

8. The employment to which those leaving have gone.

9. Whether part-time teachers of science are primarily

(a) male or female

(b) married or single.

CHAPTER 2.

THE PROCEDURE.

THE SURVEY INSTRUMENTS.

The survey instruments are presented in Appendix B. Two in­

struments were used: one a questionnaire form to be filled out by

9

the HOD Scrence and a second questionnaire form to be filled out by

every teacher in the Science Department who taught one or more science

classes.

QUESTIONNAIRE FORM ONE.

This was the questionnaire filled out by the HOD Science.

It consisted of two parts. Items 1 to 6 asked for empirical

data and aimed to be entirely objective with the exception of Item

6 (h). This latter question required the HOD to decide whether or not

his department had" .. adequate audio-visual aids". What each HOD

would consider to be adequate would probably be different. This

question could have asked for numbers of overhead projectors, slide

projectors etc. in the department, but this would still have given no

information as to the frequency of their use or whether the number

given was in fact adequate. The final decision was to leave this

item as it appeared, but its limitations were realised.

Like Item 6 (h), Items 7 and 8 required some objectivity on the

part of the HOD, but they were intentionally worded to obtain the

general 'feeling' that HODs had about the staffing situation both in

their own departments and nationally.

The following is a discussion of the estimated reliability of

this questionnaire.

Firstly, one can never be sure that the information received

is,in fact,correct. While the questionnaire forms were both headed

"STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL" the requirement of the school's name may have

affected the type of response made by some HODs .. Only one HOD re­

fused to fill in the name of his school, but did give locality, type

and size. As the name of the school was used only to determine type,

locality and size, it may have been preferable to have had three such

items, thus eliminating the need for the school's name.

Ambiguity also creates problems. Item 6 (e) was not explained

in enough detai 1. Some HOD!:; took "Science Resource Room ( s) " to mean

10

preparation rooms attached to laboratories. What was wanted here

was the number of room(s) where resources other than basic equipment

were kept i.e. schemes of work, past examination questions, class

sets of textbooks, audio-visual aids etc. There would usually only

be one such room for science resources. Due to its obvious

ambiguity (e.g. one HOD said their school had twelve such rooms) this

item was disregarded in the analysis.

The format of Items 7(a) to 7(e) were r evised more frequently

than any others. The initial format had each of the first four items

presented in the form "Morale in your science department is very low"

followed b y the possible responses: strongly agree, agree, undecided,

disagree, strongly disagree. This format was considered to possibly

bias the response made by suggesting, indirectly, what the researcher

considered the situation to be or how he hoped the HOD would respond.

Variations of this were contemplated e.g. "Morale in your

science department is very good" or "Morale in your sci;ence department

is O.K.", but in each case similar criticisms could be made.

The format used was considered to be less likely to bias the

responses made and, as it would thus increase the reliability , it was

used. The criticism of this format is that it does allow HODs to

remain neutral with responses like "satisfactory" and "O.K." It was

noted that most respondents chose this middle category for each item

(at least 35 %) while very few chose the responses at either end of the

continuum (generally less than 5%). Thus, the subjectivity of these

items does, to some extent, bring into question their reliability.

Many other factors affect responses to items such as these.

A cluster of chance factors such as fatigue and boredom, external dis­

tractions like noise, other people or other activities, and internal

distractions like tension or anxiety can all operate to reduce the

stability of an individual's response to any item at a certain point in

time. These naturally reduce the reliability of the results produced.

Reliability, it is realised, is a prerequisite for validity.

An instrument must measure something accurately before there is any

need to worry about what it is measuring and the mere fact that it is

measuring something accurately does not mean it is necessarily

measuring what we believe it to be measuring.

This questionnaire form, in the researcher's opinion, has very

good face validity for items 1 to 5, but lacks some face validity in

ll

parts of item 6 (e.g. e and ht, and in item 7. In these later

sections, as outlined above, the instrument may not be measuring ex­

actly what it is aiming to measure.

In conclusion the later sections of this questionnaire form were

included to obtain information about the HOD's informed opinion of

the staffing situation.

The obvious limitations of the results were realised, but it was

felt that with such a large sample the results would provide some in­

sight into the state of staffing in New Zealand secondary school

science departments, as perceived by HODs .

QUESTIONNAIRE FORM TWO.

This was the form filled out by members in the science department

who taught one or more science classes.

Items 1 to 11 required empirical data and with the exception of

item 10 there seemed to be no problems concerning ambiguity. Many

respondents were a little unsure about the number of inservice courses

they had been on in the past two years. Some made responses like

" .. about 2". Such a response was coded as "2". The other problem

with this item was that most teachers put down all inservice courses

they had attended but,some put down only those that were in science.

The researcher wanted the total number of inservice courses attended,

whether or not they were directly related to science. This item was

attempting to ascertain how much ongoing training the teacher of

science was receiving. This item should have been worded "How many

inservice courses have you attended over the past two years (include

all courses attended, whether or not they were directly related to

science)". It is believed that a course in reading may be as im-

portant in the ongoing training of a science teacher as a course in

junior science.

Items 12 to 14 would probably suffer from similar problems of

reliability and validity as did the later sections of the HOD

questionnaire. However, these problems will always arise when

attempting to obtain information about opinions. One of the major

factors affecting results here would have been that all questionnaire

forms were returned to the HOD for posting. It was felt that the

extra cost involved in providing every teacher of science with a

stamped, self-addressed envelope, to ensure complete confidentiality,

could not be justified. So there was a need to accept that some

te~cners· 1l)ay haye woderated their responses in view of who might

srght therr completed questronnaire form.

12

Item 14 was not filled out by 10.2% of the respondents. The

marn group who did not respond were those who taught only one or two

science classes. They may not have considered themselves to be

science teachers, but the wording was q uite specific i.e. " .. to

improve your job as a teacher of science". Anyone who teaches one

or more science classes is a "teacher of science", but not necessarily

a "science teacher". This latter category is taken to mean those who

teach mainly science subjects.

to have been needed.

A more detailed explanation appears

In conclusion, this form appe ared to be completed accurately b y

most, but there were ambiguities in Items 10 and 14 as outlined above .

The forms used were intentionally printed on different coloured

paper. The HOD form was green while the form filled out by all

teachers of science was white. The aim here was to reinforce the fact

that there were two different forms to be completed by the HOD and one

by t h e members of his department.

THE S~1!.El.

The survey forms, covering letter and postage paid , self-addressed

enyelopes were sent to all State and Private Secondary Schools in New

Zealand and to the secondary departments of all District High Schools

and F .1 - 7 schools, hereafter referred to as "the population".

Of the 395 schools to which surveys were sent 271 replied in time

to be used in the computer analysis, these hereafter are referred to as

'' the sample". Another 5 replies came later which have not been used

in the sample.

The response rate was thus, 70 %, and the sample was 68.6% of the

population.

TABLE I ,

SCHOOLS IN SAMPLE BY SCHOOL TYPE .

School Type. Number in Number in % of pop­Population. Sample. ulation. -

Private,Boys 37 20 54.0

Private,Girls 48 26 54.1

Private,Co-ed 15 7 46.6

State, Boy s 29 18 62.l

State, Girls 28 2 3 82.l

State, Co-ed 160 131 81.8

D.H.S. and F.l-7 78 46 58 .9

Total 395 271

% of total Sample.

7.4

9. 6

2.6

6.6

8.5

48.3

17. 0

100.0

13

Table I above shows that proportionally Private Co-educational

(Co-ed) Schools were not as well represented as other schools and this

fact mus t be take n into account when the data are later used to draw

compariso n s betwee n diffe rent t ypes of schools.

TABLE II.

TEACHERS OF SCIENCE IN SAMPLE BY SCHOOL TYPE.

School Type. Number. Percentage of Samp le.

Private,Boys 103 6.1

Private,Girls 114 6 .7

Private, Co-ed 21 1.2

State, Boys 151 8.9

State, Girls 189 11.1

State, Co-ed 965 56.9

D.H.S. and F.1-7 153 9.0

Total 1696 100.0

Table II outlines the frequency distribution of the teachers in

the sample. It can be seen that 1696 teachers of science responded

by filling in survey form 2.

The major area of teaching of the teachers in the sample is

presented in Table III on the following page.

TABLE III.

MAJOR AREA OF TEACHING OF THE TEACHERS IN THE SAMPLE.

Major Area of Teaching Number % of Sample.

Science 1387 81. 7

Mathematics 151 8.9

Physical Education 48 2 .8

Social Studies 28 1. 7

Home Economics 24 1.4

Other 58 3.5

Total 1696 100.0

Of the science teachers in the sample, 81.7% were teaching

almost solely sciences. Many HODs connnented that other teachers,

especially mathematics and physical education teachers, were being

brought in to " .. fill the gaps on the s ci.ence timetable". It was

evident from the survey results that mathematics teachers were being

us ed in the science department to teach one or two senior science

classes (especially physics) while physical education teachers were

being used to take junior science classes. This result was somewhat

expected when one looks at the sort of tertiary qualifications that

both categories of teachers usually have i.e. a Bachelor's degree in

Mathematics often contains Stage I or II physics while physical

education teachers cover enough science in the Diploma in Physical

Education to equip them to teach junior science.

Data Analysis:

The completed questionnaire forms were coded by the researcher.

14

These coded results were then punched on to computer discs and the

punching verified by the computer punch-operators of Massey University's

Computer Science Department. The researcher, under the guidance of

Mr. W. Abbell, Computer Science Department, then prepared the necessary

programmes to produce frequencies, sums, means, percentages and cross

tabulations of the data, as required. The computer analysis was

carried out using Massey University's Burroughs B6700 Computer. The

data produced are presented in the following chapters.

Timing of the Survey:

The survey forms were posted to all schools on the 1st August 1980.

This was three weeks before the end of term two. The decision was

made to send them then rather than to wait the six weeks until the

l5

beginning of term three. The result was that about 60% of the returns

came in before the end of term two and the remaining 40% after the

holidays. It is possible that the timing of the survey may have had

a detrimental effect on the response rate.

Firstly, a teacher's motivational state can be quite low after a

long, wet winter term and the questionnaire may not have had a good

reception.

Secondly, many schools have examinations at this time of the

year and teachers are under pressure to set, supervise and mark exam­

inations, as well as write reports.

Finally, this survey was last in a line of three surveys that

had been received by the HOD of Science during term two. One was

rather cumbersome, difficult to fill out and had created some bad

attitudes towards surveys.

Howeve r, the ease of response, the inclu~ion of a p ostage-paid,

s e lf-addressed envelope and the real concern science teachers have

about science education were, in part, responsible for a gratify ing

response rate of 70%.

CHAPTER 3.

QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING.

It is not easy to assess the academic qualifications of teachers

in a manner that does justice to them. It is recognised that an in-

completed science degree may be a better qualification for teaching

science than a completed arts degree. Furthermore, it is recognised

that a degree or diploma in science does not necessarily guarantee

good teaching.

However, it is· probably desirable for a teacher of science to

have a wide scientific background and one criterion for judging

whether a teacher is so equipped is whether or not he possesses a

sound science degree or similar qualification.

Table IV, on the following page, sets out the qualifications of

the teachers in the sample.

the i965 survey.

The values in brackets are those from

16

r-­r-i

Boys, Private

Girls, Private

Co-ed, Private

Boys, State

Girls, State

Co-ed, State

D.H.S. &

F. 1-7

~

() ti}

Ul C • 0

::;: ::i:: ' .._. .

0 () • U)

..c:: p. Ill

15 .9

(10)

20.8 (19)

14.3

27. 5

(23.2)

22.5 (9. 5)

23.3

( 13. 7)

19.8

( 3. 7)

. () U) . Ill

44.6

( 35)

42.5 (28.6)

33.3

47.7

( 39. 2)

48.7 (32.3)

50.2

(33.2)

44.4

( 22 . 5)

~

~ . 5 () C

·r-1 .._.

() U)

Ill

5.9

(8. 3)

l.9 ( 4. 8)

l4.3

l.6 (0. 8)

2.2

(5.0)

2.0

(8. 7)

(i)

TABLE I V.

HIGHEST ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS IN THE SAMPI£. (Percentages).

~ . ~

s . 0 s ~

() 0 . C () s

·r-1 C 0 .._. ·..-1 () . . . .._. C () () () () ·r-1 U) U) U) U) () () () .._. . . . . U) U) U) -I< -I< -I< ::i:: tJ) tr, tr, . . . ~ ~ ~ ::i:: ::i:: ::i:: ~ ~ ~ ~ . . . . . . ·r-1 ::;: Ill Ill ::;: Ill Ill ::;: Ill Ill 0

4.0 5.9 l.O

(_6 . 7) (0. 5) (10) (6. 7) (3.3) (4. 8)

0.9 7.5 l.9 6.6 (8. 5) (4. 8) ( 7 .1) ( 4. 7)

4.8

0.7 0 . 7 0.7 3.4 4.0 l. 3 (0. 9) (3. 3) (1. 4) ( 3. 3) ( 2. 3)

0.5 3.2 1.6 2.7 l.l 5 . 3 (0. 8) (6. 7) (3.4) (5.0) (1. 7) (5.0)

0.2 l.6 0.3 0.8 1.0 3.3 0.4 1. 3 (O. 3) ( 2. 9) (0. 2) (1.8) (0. 3) (3.2) (6. 3) (1.6) ( 3. 4)

0.7 2.6 2 . 6 4.0 0.7 0.7

( 1. 3) (1. 3) (7.5) (10) (2.5)

Values in brackets relate too. Taylor's 1965 survey.

(ii) * means "contains science".

ti} re, nl r-i Q) Q) s 0 tr, .µ 0 0 I C l'(j Q) r-i

-I< ..c:: 0 ti} .µ r-i ~ ti} () H tll C ~ ·r-1 Q) U) p. ~ Q) l:l 0 ti} () 0 Q) H ~ 4-1 r-i H U H U ;:J 0 l'(j Q) 0 C 0 l'(j Q) C ~ tr, Q) u -I< re, () H 0 s:: Q) ·r-1

H C C Q) ·..-I r-i ·..-1 Q) () . Q) 0 Q) ~ ~ ro ~ H Ul u ii () •,-I .µ () tr, . Q) () Q) Q) 0 nl ~ S:: E-i 0 U) U) ::;: 4-1 8 r-i ·r-1

5.9 l2.0 5.0 16.8 ( 3. 3) (5.0) (ll. 7) (26.6)

4.7 8.5 3.7 10. 3 (4. 8) (ll. 9) ( 7 .1) (2.4) ( 19 .1)

14.3 4.8 14.3 42.9

4.0 5.4 4.7 10.7

(1. 9) (10.3) ( 8. 5) (5.6) (24)

4.8 5.8 2 . 1 10.1 (12.4) ( 10. 8) (11.6) (l. 7) (28. 2)

4.2 7.4 3.8 12.2

(10) ( 5. 7) (12.4) (0. 6) (29.9)

7.9 7.3 7.3 20.5

(8. 7) ( 3. 8) (30) (1. 3) (58. 7)

One thing is i'IllIDediately apparent: qualifications held have

i'Illproved dramatically since 1965. The percentage of teachers with a

B.Sc . qualification, or higher, has increased from around 40 % to

around 60~70 % overall, and the percentage of teachers lacking a com-

pleted degree or diploma in science has fallen markedly. One very

notable change is the percentage of teachers in D.H.S. and F. 1-7

schools who lack a completed degree or diploma in science.

this value was 58.7% while in 1980 it has fallen to 20.5 %.

In 1965

It may also be claimed that those who are poorly qualified in

science may well be concerned only with the teaching of junior

classes or classes of lower academic ability, and that they are

18

sufficiently well qualified to do this. It is fair to say that higher

academic qualifications are more necessary for senior science classes.

Table V sets out the relevant qualifications of teachers in the sample

teaching senior science classes.

TABLE V .

SENIOR SCIENCE SUBJECTS TAUGHT BY RELEVANT QUALIFICATIONS HELD (Numbe rs and Percentages)

Chemistry Phy sics Biology

F7 F6 F7 F6 F7 F6

Above Stage III 71 87 37 50 75 144

(28.7) ( 2 3. 7) (17.9) (14.8) (26. 9) (21.5)

Stage III 128 181 63 88 144 352

(51.8) (49.3) (30.6) (26.0) (51.6) (52.6)

Stage II 30 48 53 81 39 83

(12 .1) (13.0) (25. 7) (24.0) (13.9) (12.4)

Stage I 14 43 45 106 12 58

(5 .6) (11.7) (21.8) ( 31. 3) (4.3) (8. 7)

Less than 4 8 8 13 9 32 Stage I (1. 6) ( 2 .1) (3.9) ( 3. 8) (3.2) ( 4. 7)

TOTAL 247 367 206 338 279 669

NOTES (i) Percentages are given in brackets.

(ii)"Relevant qualification held" I11eans that for F.6 and

F.7 Chemistry, say, the qualification level given is in

Chemistry etc.

It is apparent that Chemistry and Biology teachers are generally

well-qualified. At least 73% of the teachers teaching Form 6 or 7

-ehemistry or Biology have relevant qualifications at Stage III level

19

or higher. Less than 5 % of the teachers in these areas had relevant

qualifications below Stage I.

Physics teachers are, in general, not quite so well qualified.

Much smaller percentages have Stage III and above physics qualifi­

cations with 35 % of Form 6 physics teachers having Stage I physics,

or less, as their only qualifications in phys ics. The percentage of

Form 6 phy sics teachers with Stage I as their highest qualification

has increased from 18.9% in 1965 to 31.3% in 1980 - a noticeable

decline in tertiary qualifications.

However, it is fair to conclude that qualifications held by

teachers of senior science classes are generally very good with most

having Stage III, or higher, qualifications.

The next area of interest is that of qualifications in Education.

I have always felt that teachers should be given more positive in­

centives to improve their academic qualifications in Education. The

Diploma in Education is an excellent qualification for the practicing

teacher. While many science teachers are well qualified in their

subject areas they are very poorly qualified in the theories of

e ducation, testing and evaluation procedures, curriculum design, the

learning process and the like.

TABLE VI.

TEACHERS IN SAMPLE WITH QUALIFICATIONS IN EDUCATION.

)ip. Ed. Dip. Ed. M. Ed. B. Ed. ~- Ed. Post Grad. Total. (incom.) (incom.) Certificate

in Education.

Boys 13 2 l 3 5 24 Private (0. 8) (0 .1) (0 .1) (0. 2) (0. 2)

Girls 10 l 5 4 20 Private (0. 6) (0.1) (0. 3) (O. 2)

Co-ed l 2 3 Private (0.1) (0.1)

Boys 12 2 l 4 19 State (0. 7) (0 .1) (0 .1) (O. 2)

Girls 22 l 4 3 30 State (l. 3) (O. l) (0. 2) (0. 2)

Co-ed 79 18 2 22 3 28 152 State (4. 6) (1. 0) (0 .1) (1. 3) (0. 2) (l. 6)

D.H.S.and 10 l l 3 l 2 18 F.l-7. (0. 6) ( 0 .1) (0 .1) (O. 2) (0 .1) (0 .1)

TOTAL 147 27 4 38 4 46 266 ( 8. 6) (1. 6) (O. 2) ( 2. 2) (0. 2) ( 2. 7)

20

Table VI shows the numbers of teachers in the sample with qualifi-

cat±ons in Education. It excludes the Diploma in Teaching which around

75 % of science teachers have.

Excluding the Post-Graduate Certificate in Education, which many of

the British teachers have, and which is very similar to the New Zealand

Diploma in Teaching, only 13% of the teachers in the sample have an in-1

complete degree or diploma,or higher qualification,in Education.

One of the major findings of Taylor's survey in 1965 was that 57.7%

of the science teachers in District High Schools and F.1-7 schools lacked

completed degrees or diplomas. He also concluded that , " Schools in

the South Island tend to be better off than schools in the North Island.

This is particularly so in Christchurch ... " (p.13, 1965 Dissertation).

TABLE VII.

THOSE IN SAMPLE WHO LACK A COMPLETED DEGREE OR DIPLOMA CONTAIN­ING SCIENCE, BY LOCALITY.

LOCALITY.

Auckland

Wellington and Hutt

Christchurch

Dunedin

Other North Island under 650

Other North Island over 650

Other South Island under 650

Other South Island over 650

D.H.S. & F.1-7

PERCENTAGE OF SAMPLE.

12.4

12.6

8.8

7.5

13.8

11. 3

21. 5

11. 2

20.5

(26.0)

(18.5)

(7. 0)

(12.5)

(57. 7)

Figures in brackets relate to 1965 survey.

The conclusion from the 1980 survey is that those science teach­

ers who do lack completed degrees or diplomas in science seem to be

well spread throughout the country with only South Island schools with

a roll under 650 and D.H.S. and F.1-7 schools being marginally worse off.

The improvement in qualifications of teachers teaching science in D.H.S.

and F.1-7 schools has been dramatic. (See Table VII) .

The only survey of staffing in District High Schools since

Taylor's was that done by C.R. Davies ("A look at some of the problems

facing the Secondary Departments of District High Schools, Dip. Ed.

l. 'Incomplete'is taken here to mean short by no more than one paper for a Dip. Ed. and short by no more than three papers or one unit for a B.Ed.

Dissertation, l970, Massey University}.

He was able to draw the following conclusions about the staffing

situation in these rural schools:

(i) The percentage of permanent positions actually filled is

lower than the norm for the country.

(ii) Subject options could really only be catered for by large

numbers of part-time teachers.

(iii) Most teachers only have Trained Teacher's Certificates.

(iv) Headmasters felt that the 11 •• quality of the staff .. 11

was a major area of concern.

2.1

(v) Most teachers were young and were quite satisfied teaching

in a District High School, but they did not like the lack of

specialist contact and the inadequacy of equipment.

Thus, in the five years since Taylor's survey there had been some

improvements and now fifteen years after the 1965 survey things have

improved considerably in District High Schools. Their isolation and

small senior rolls will probably always produce unique problems with

respect to staffing. However, the provision of cheap school houses

and the country service requirements do help their lot considerably.

TRAINING

Boys, Private

Girls, Private

Co-ed, Private

Boys, State

Girls, State

Co-ed, State

D.H.S. & F.1-7

TOTAL

TABLE VIII.

TYPE OF TRAINING BY SCHOOL TYPE (Rounded Percentages)

SECONDARY PRIMARY NONE

57 10 30

67 8 20

62 10 24

73 10 14

74 7 16

78 10 10

69 12 14

74.3 9.5 13.5

It can be seen from Table VIII that:

OTHER

3

5

4

3

3

2

5

4.7

(i) Private Schools have much larger percentages of untrained

science teachers, possibly because of the financial penalties

that untrained teachers experience in State Schools. The

highest is 30% in boys' private schools.

(ii) State Schools are considerably better off with only 10% of

the teachers in Co-ed State Schools being untrained.

(iii) An overall percentage of l3.5% or 229 teachers of science

who are not trained.

22

While it is possible to accept that there is no great need for

teachers of junior classes to necessarily have a completed degree or

diploma in science to do an effective job, teacher traininq is essen-

tial. If teachers wish for the complete professionalism which seems

to be evading them, then it is essential that the first prerequisite

of entry to teaching is that of secondary teacher training.

I hope that in time the requirement of a completed degree or

diploma will also be obligatory.

There are, of course, methods of remedying the lack of training

some teachers have. In-school training is carried out by most

schools, but the full-time, expertise and technical equipment that can

be offered by teachers' colleges is not available, nor are the variety

of experiences that students gain while on their three different

'sections'. The other area of training is that of residential,

one-day, and in-school courses that are run regularly .

TABLE I X.

COURSES ATTENDED DURING THE PAST TWO YEARS BY TEACHERS OF SAMPLE.

1

Residential 197

One-day courses 450

In-school courses 381

2

4 2

402

280

3

6

178

60

More than 3

3

160

61

% of sample involved.

14.6

70.2

46.1

2 Table IX shows that during the last two years only 70.2% of all

teachers of science have attended one or more one-day courses. The

need for in-service courses is a real one and it is pleasing to see

that as from August 1980 all schools will be closed one day per year

so that all teachers may attend an in-service course of their choice.

It seems then, that teachers of science are generally well

qualified and well-trained. It is also apparent that senior science

classes, especially chemistry and biology classes, have very well

2. Refer to the comments made in Chapter 1 regarding this statistic.

qualified teachers . The concentration of poorly qualified teachers

in rural schools is no longer as apparent as it was in 1965 and the

only aspect of qualifications that seems to be a little weak is that

of the numbers of science teachers with degrees or diplomas in

Education. This will be discussed in more detail in Chapter Six.

23

CHAPTER 4.

THE TEACHER OF SCIENCE.

As can be seen from the _previous chapte·r- the teacher of science

is generally well-trained and well-qualified.

The questions that must now be answered are:-

24

1. To what extent is the teacher of science a subject specialist?

2. Is he happy with his present salary and, if not, why?

3. Is he happy with his present situation as a secondary school

science teacher and, if not, why?

4. What things would science teachers most like to see take place

to improve their job as teachers of science?

5. Is he likely to be involved in a Science Teachers' Association?

6. How many science teachers are leaving the profession and to

where are they going?

7. What sized classes are teachers of science experiencing?

Subject Specialization

Table X below outlines the extent of specialization in science

of the teachers in the sample. The extent of specialization is

presented as a ratio of the number of teachers who teach mainly science

to the number of teachers who teach little science.

TABLE X.

EXTENT OF SPECIALIZATION IN SCIENCE.

1954 *

1965 ** 1980

Ratio of teachers who teach mainly science to teachers who teach little science.

10

10

10

18

15

2

* **

E.J. Searle's results.

O. Taylor's results.

This is a dramatic change. There has obviously been a real

movement from the "all rounder", as is the norm in primary schools,

to the "subject specialist".

of factors, e.g.

This could be a result of a variety

(i) Improved qualifications mean that secondary teachers obtain

a degree in one subject area, are thus specialists in this

area, and prefer to teach only their specialist area.

(ii) H.O.Ds like to keep their department as a unit i.e. they

prefer to have all their science teachers teaching only

science. There are reasons for this e.g. fewer problems

with equipment, staff are displaced from their own labor­

atories less frequently, they have fewer people to be

responsible to/for.

(iii) The professional snobbery related to the possible status of

being a chemistry teacher, say, rather than a teacher of

general subjects.

(iv) The possible move in smaller schools, with a staff of about

five, to have one teacher teaching all the science and

mathematics.

Whatever the reasons may be there has been a dramatic movement

towards subject specialization with about 80% of our science teachers

teaching all, or nearly all, science classes.

Two other pieces of relevant information were obtained about the

teacher of science:-

(i) 15.5% of the sample are List A teachers. This SU!Jgests

that in a department of ten science teachers an H.O.D. can

expect to have one or two List A teachers who will need

some training and advice.

(ii) 53% of the sample have had less than seven years teaching

experience which suggests that we have a relatively young

group of people teaching science in New Zealand secondary

schools.

SALARIES

25

Perhaps the area that has been most talked about and most pub­

licised over the past ten years or more, is that of salaries. Prior

to 1971 salaries of teachers were very low compared to other profess­

ions, staffing shortages were chronic, morale was at its lowest ever

and only the very dedicated remained. With a massive boost to

salaries a marked improvement in recruitment and retention was evident

and selection panels of Teachers' College applicants had plenty of

good quality candidates to choose from. Towards the later part of

the seventies salary relativity again fell and once more principals

found it difficult to staff their schools with well qualified, trained,

permanent teachers (see Chapter 1). This was followed in 1979 by

salary increases and cost of living adjustments that resulted in many

teachers receiving gross increases of around 25 per cent. The

situation stabilised a little, but was still felt by many to be far

from ideal.

This survey of science teachers, however, shows that a rather

unexpectedly high per cent of teachers are quite happy with their

present salaries (see Table XI) .

TABLE XI.

TEACHERS OF SCIENCE WHO ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR PRESENT SALARY .

Number Percentage of Sample

Happy 1295 76.4

Not happy 386 22 . 8

Did not respond 15 0.9

Total 1696 100.0

Only 22.8% of the sample were not happy with their present

salary. The two main reasons given were that it was simply "Not

enough!" or that it did not compare well with what one would get in

other occupations where similar qualifications were required. It

should be noted here that many who said it was not enough pointed out

that they were quite happy with their gross salary, but that the tax

was too high.

26

TABLE XII.

REASONS GIVEN BY TEACHERS OF SCIENCE FOR NOT BEING HAPPY WITH THEIR PRESENT SALARY.

Reason.

Not enough

Poor relativity

Poor hourly rate

P.R's poorly paid

Poor recognition of higher ter­tiary qualification or exper­ience in other job.

More steps at top of Basic Scale

No compensation for extra curri-cular activities

Poor as not trained

Country service bar

Master teacher scale needed

Need for book allowance

No perks e.g. car

Total

Number

166

107

30

27

24

8

8

6

4

2

1

1

384

Percentage

43.2

27.9

7.8

7.0

6.3

2.1

2.1

1.6

1.0

0.5

0.3

0.3

1 00 .0

Relativity is always a difficult area to analyse . While other

professions seem to be earning very good money on an hourly rate,

27

they do have considerable overheads which teachers do not have e.g.

consulting rooms, secretary's wages, rates, power, telephone, purchase

of new equipment etc.

However, a teacher near the top of the basic scale who puts in

fifty hours a week of teaching, marking and preparation, for forty

weeks of the year, is grossing around nine dollars an hour which

would be no more than many unskilled people are earning in other areas

of employment.

The area of reimbursement for P.R. positions has always been

one that the P.P.T.A. has attempted to improve during salary nego-

tiations. A P.R.2, which many H.O.D's of Science hold, has a gross

value of about $1,200. After tax the P.R.2 Head of Science is likely

to receive $2 per day for the extra responsibilities of running a

department, purchasing gear, training List A teachers, helping with

any discipline problems that members of his department may be having,

instigating new schemes of work, keeping up with the current trends

28

in science education and, of course, teaching five science classes.

Attainment of higher tertiary qualifications once one has started

teaching result in small, if any, increments in salary, e.g. the

completion of a Diploma in Education entitles one to the "Service

Increment" of around $500, BUT one does not receive this until one

has been on the top of the basic scale for five years. A wait of

ten years for the B.Sc. or B.A. holder who completes their Dip. Ed.

in their second year of teaching! There is no direct financial gain

for the person who then goes on to complete, say, a Master ' s degree

in Education.

The country service bar is another area of concern. It is

entirely punitive. Teachers who are supposed to provide their

students with positive reinforcement are themselves subjected to

negative reinforcement when it comes to the country service require-

ments. There should be a financial incentive for those who do go to

country schools and not a negative financial 'punishment' for those

who do not choose to go.

The Master Teacher concept is one that needs to be looked at very

closely. At present the only line of advancement is to move out of

the classroom and into administration. Unfortunately, it is to

administrative jobs that some of our best science teachers are going.

It is not difficult to understand this when an H.O.D. Science c~~ ... ,.., increase his gross salary by some $8,000 ~ $9,000 on becoming a

principal of a Class D Secondary School. If he remains in the class-

room his only increases in salary over the next 25-30 years would be

cost of living adjustments.

The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry do an annual salary survey

of their members, and while it is only those involved in Chemistry who

are surveyed the pattern oould be similar in Physics or Biology.

The l980 survey consisted of 687 returns. One conclusion of the

survey was that, "Government jobs are thought to have the advantage of

job security and an extremely good superannuation fund. Industrial

positions however, have allowances, some non-taxable, in addition to

their salaries and chances for paid overtime", e.g. "A high proportion

of-members acknowledge the non~taxable allowance of a car (51%) and

telephone (39%)".

Two tables have been reproduced from the 1980 Salary Survey with

the approval of the N.Z.I.C.

TABLE .XIII.

THE MEAN, MEDIAN, MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM SALARIES FOR EACH EMPLOY­MENT GROUP,

Employment Group

School teaching s

S + A

Teachers college s,s + A

Universi'ty s

Technical Inst.

S + A

s

Industry

Central Govt.

Local Govt.

Research Assn.

Self-employed

S + A

s

S + A

s

S + A

s

S + A

s

S + A

s

S + A

Hospital services S

Student

Other

S + A

S,S + A

s

S + A

Number Mean

44

2

131

22

219

147

14

45

8

18

13

7

_]_3505

13793

15356

16750

16865

15657

15677

13858

15230

16680

16687

13427

13718

16506

16638

16438

22233

13660

13690

2944

16198

16831

Median Minimum

_]_2777

13101

15356

15999

16033

16002

16002

13000

14034

16635

16635

13035

13268

16062

16062

15500

17000

14209

14209

3125

15000

16276

9044

9044

13684

6523

6823

11185

11317

7800

7800

7786

7786

8831

8922

8066

8066

10800

15000

8221

8221

120

10000

10300

a. S, Salary, S + A1Salary + All Allowances.

Maximum

21500

21500

17027

31000

33100

18679

18769

30000

50991

28973

29013

18742

18742

26003

26003

24500

42000

20007

20007

4264

22286

23105

b. Where Mean different from Median, distribution is skewed.

When Mean> median, more than 50% of sample are below mean.

Table XIII shows how the allowances available in such areas as

Industry and Self-employment dramatically increase the possible

maximum of a chemistry graduate's salary. While the maximum salary

in school teaching is not the lowest, it is in the lower group, and

the median school teaching salary is the lowest of all the employment

29

groups with the exception of students. The school teacher who is un-

able to obtain the allowances, often non-taxable, that are available

in the private sector, will never be able to increase his salary by

$20,000 plus as some can that are employed in, say, industry.

30

It is very difficult to compare overtime done in industry to that

done in teaching. Many teachers feel that marking and preparation

done out of school time is not overtime, but rather part of the job for

which they, as professionals, are paid. However, Table XIV does show

that those in school teaching and university science teaching put in a

greater percentage of unpaid overtime than those in other areas of

employment.

TABLE XIV .

PERCENTAGE OF UNPAID OVERTIME WORKED.

Time Total School Univer- Industry Central Research hours/week Teaching sity Govt . Assns.

NIL 43.4 45.5 35.1 31.l 66.0 46.7

1 - 3 14.3 4.5 1.5 24.2 15.0 15.6

4 - 6 12.4 9.1 16.8 15.1 7.5 11.1

7 - 9 8.8 6.8 9 . 9 11.9 4.1 11.1

10 - 14 9.1 13.6 13. 7 8 . 2 3.4 6 .7

15 + 10.3 15.9 18.3 9 .1 3.4 6 .7

Unspecified 1.6 4.5 4.7 0.4 0.6 2.2

THE PRESENT SITUATION

Perhaps of more importance to the teacher of science is not his

salary, but rather his conditions of employment.

TABLE XV.

TEACHERS OF SCIENCE WHO, EXCLUDING SALARY CONDITIONS, ARE REASONABLY HAPPY WITH THEIR PRESENT SITUATION AS POST~

PRIMARY TEACHERS OF SCIENCE.

Number Percentage of Sample.

Happy 1092 64.4

Not happy 590 34.8

Did not respond 14 0.8

TOTAL 1696 100.0

Table XV shows that 64.4% of the sample were reasonably happy

with their situation as teachers of science while Table XVI on the

following page lists the reasons given by the 590 teachers (34.8%)

of the sample who were not happy with their present situation.

TABLE XVI.

REASONS GIVEN FOR NOT BEING HAPPY WITH THEIR PRESENT SITUATION BY SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS'.

Reason

Too much class contact time

Not enough equipment and textbooks

Too much work and stress

High teacher/pupil ratio

Conditions of service poor

Curriculum modifications needed

Other classes preferred

More help required

Low motivated, unruly pupils

Discipline problems

Too many expected 'extras'

Poor laboratories

Lab. technician needed

Boredom/Disillusionment

School environment

Lowering of academic standards

Prefer own laboratory

Home life affected

Lack of laboratory time

Master teachers needed

Staff shortages

Sabbatical leave needed

TOTAL

Frequency

146

89

70

56

31

27

20

18

17

15

14

14

13

9

8

8

7

5

4

4

2

1

590

Percentage

24.7

15.l

11.9

9.0

5.3

4.6

3.4

3.1

2.9

2.5

2.4

2.4

2.2

1.5

1.4

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.3

0.2

100.0

Many of the responses made in this ·table are discussed later in

this chapter. Some comments are warranted at this point though.

31

Firstly, "Conditions of Service" was a rather non-specific phrase used

by 31 teachers. It is included as a separate heading, as it could

not have been incorporated under some other area e.g. "More equipment

and textbooks", "Less class contact time", or "Stress due to work-load"

as it probably includes a little of all of these. Secondly, it is

interesting to note that only 32 teachers commented about unruly pupils

or discipline problems . While it is realised that some of the other

areas mentioned may well result in discipline problems e.g. high

pupil/teacher ratios or lack of preparation time, it is also possible

that teachers do not wish to state - or even accept themselves -

that they have discipline problems. Discipline problems are what

other teachers have! Thirdly, this table and the next one (i.e.

Table XVII) both highlight the need for less class contact time,

better equipment and textbooks, lower teacher/pupil ratios and more

technician assistance. In both t 'ables these four account for more

than half of the responses made.

32

Table XVII on the following page lists the responses given by all

teachers in the sample to the question: "Name the one thing you

would most like to see take place to improve your job as a teacher of

science".

All the responses made to this question have been included for

they represent a hierarchical ordering of future changes to science

education as recommended b y seventy percent of the teachers of science

in New Zealand s econdary schools.

10.2% or 174 teachers made no response to this question for the

reason that they did not feel that the y were science teachers. Many

were taking one science class to help with staff shortages in the

science department. 361 science teachers felt that less class contact

time was essential in order to improve their job as teachers of science.

The largest problem for teachers who truly attempt to enter into

the spirit of 'learning by doing~ or enquiry based methods of science

instruction1 is that all their students are doing practical work and

each student is often doing something different. There is a tremen-

dous amount of teacher preparation necessary for this, gear has to be

set up and tidied away as each class comes and goes. For forty

minute periods the problem is compounded. The preparation involved

becomes so onerous for a normal teaching programme - let alone a pupil

centred,enquiry-base~ one~ that practical work is avoided. Thus,

teachers are avoiding the one thing that science educators agree is

the best learning environment simply because of lack of non-contact

time and technician assistance. The need for technician assistance

was fourth highest on the list of improvements needed, Many smaller

schools are not eligible for a part-time laboratory technician and thus

must make do themselves or enlist the aid of lab. rnoni tors. However,

TABLE XVII.

RESPONSES GIVEN TO THE QUESTION~ "NAME THE ONE THING YOU WOULD MOST LIKE TO SEE TAKE PLACE TO IMPROVE YOUR JOB AS A

TEACHER OF SCIENCE".

Improvement needed.

Less class contact time

More equipment, facilities and textbooks

Lower teacher/pupil ratios

Increased lab . technician time

Science curricula changes

More laboratory time

More refresher courses

Improvement in student attitudes

Sabbatical leave needed

Improvement in science dept. organisation

Laboratory design

Non-compulsory education introduced

Slow learner courses needed

A more academic attitude

Not to teach science

More assistance from Dept. of Education

Less exam emphasis

No clerical or administrative tasks

Communication between Universities, l Teachers' Colleges and Schools f Streamed classes needed

More help

Better qualified colleagues

Improvement in pupils' English or Maths.

Own Laboratory

Master teacher needed

Compensation for extracurricular activities

U.E. moved to F.7

No complaints

More P.R's in science department

Educational daytime T.V. needed

Better library facilities

No response

TOTAL

Frequency

361

303

231

2.14

74

68

34

32

29

29

22

16

13

12

8

8

8

8

7

7

6

6

5

5

4

3

3

2

2

l

l

174

1696

Percentage

21. 3

17.8

13.6

.12. 6

4.3

4.0

2.0

1.9

1. 7

1. 7

1. 3

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.3

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.1

10.2

100.0

33

there is a limit to what the latter can be expected to do and they

need a considerable amount of training which again uses up the few

free lunch hours that the teacher of science has.

34

The need for more money to purchase equipment, improve facilities

and upgrade science textbooks was the second most important area need­

ing improvement. Some private schools and smaller state schools

appear to be very badly off in this area. Science teaching without

apparatus is a fraud. The nature of science demands that students

observe natural phenomena for themselves. If those crying "back to

basics" have this in mind then they would deserve support. Ideally

each student should have a piece of apparatus to himself, but there

are many reasons why this is usually impossible. At best students

will work in two's or three's, and to economise on time and equipment

teachers may perform demonstration experiments - one piece of equip­

ment for the whole class. This is not to deny that there are many

who improvise brilliantly with apparatus - but there is a limit to

what can be done with cardboard, rubber bands and jam jars.

The third highest priority was that of smaller teacher/ pupil

ratios. This will be discussed in a later part of this chapter.

The other areas suggested are by no means any less worthy than

the four already mentioned and it was interesting to note that only

two teachers out of 1696 had no complaints at all about their present

situation.

Perhaps the last word should be left with the obviously dis­

illusioned teacher who simply said that the one thing he needed to

improve his job as a teacher of science was "A visit from God!"

SCIENCE TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS.

The New Zealand Science Teachers' Association (N.Z.S.T.A.) is a

reasonably active group with branches throughout the country. It

aims to bring science teachers together on usually a monthly basis to

discuss problems of science education, listen to guest speakers, visit

places of interest and to just get together over a cup of coffee to

swap good and bad ideas.

For many science teachers it can be a very heartening experience

to find that you are not the only one with a class of forty slow-stream

third formers, no equipment and a textbook with a reading age three

years above that of your best student.

35

The N.Z.S.T.A. publishes a magazine the "Science Teacher" which

keeps teachers up-to-date with changes and new ideas in science

education.

TABLE XVIII.

TEACHERS OF SCIENCE WHO ARE MEMBERS OF A LOCAL SCIENCE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

Number Percentage of Sample.

Members 632 37.3

Not members 1049 61.9

Did not respond 15 0.9

TOTAL 1696 100.0

It can be seen from Table XVIII that just over one third of the

sample are members of the N.Z.S.T.A. Many said that they would like

to be, but that there was not a branch near them. Membership is

well worthwhile, but it is not difficult to appreciate that with the

work-load most science teachers are experiencing and with family

commitments, it is not easy to attend yet another meeting each month.

REASONS FOR LEAVING THE PROFESSION.

While Table XI showed that only 22.8% of the sample were not

happy with their present situation, Table XIX below shows that during

the year October 1979 to October 1980, 347 teachers of science from

the schools in the sample , left science teaching.

TABLE XIX.

SCIENCE STAFF LEAVING DEPARTMENTS IN THE SAMPLE DURING THE PAST YEAR.

Reason. Number in sample.

To teach overseas 31

Overseas, but not to teach 95

Industry 27

Other area of teaching 60

To bring up a family 57

Another job 45

Other

Notes.

32

TOTAL 347

( i) This does not include staff who have transferred to another secondary school in New Zealand.

(ii) "Past 12 months" was backdated from time of filling out the questionnaire.

(iii) "Another Area of Teaching" is taken to mean University, Primary, Training College, Technical Institute, Depart­mental Inspector, non-teaching Principal, Guidance Counsellor etc.

It can be seen from this that just over one third of the

teachers left New Zealand and well over two thirds left teaching.

36

It should be noted though that some of those who left to go overseas

may well return in a few years time and take up teaching again -

possibly to do a better job after a break from the stresses of teach­

ing science.

Table XX lists the jobs that the forty -five teachers went to who

were classified as "left to go to another job".

to say the least, diverse.

TABLE XX.

The jobs gone to were,

JOBS TO WHICH THOSE UNDER THE CATEGORY OF "ANOTHER JOB" IN TABLE XIX WENT TO.

Type of job.

l"a:rnung

Agriculture or Horticulture

Spouse on transfer

Catering/Restaurant/Take-away Bar

Teachers' College

Counsellor at Hospital

Insurance

Housekeeping

Left with no job in mind

Singer in pop group

Tertiary Education

Shopkeeper

Red Cross Director

Computing

Salesman

Labourer

Ski Instructor

Missionary

Civil Defence

Barman

Tour Organiser

Real Estate Agent

Organiser of protest group

Nursing

TOTAL

Number

I

4

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

l

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

45

It is evident from Table XIX that, contrary to popular opinion,

industry with its higher salaries, paid overtime and allowances -

some non-taxable - is not attracting a large proportion of science

teachers at all. In fact, 1.6% of the sample is very small in these

times when teachers are reported to be so dissatisfied with their

salaries and conditions of employment.

The thirty-two teachers in the category of "other" consisted

mainly of teachers who have retired or left teaching as a result of a

mental breakdown. There were four in this latter category.

CLASS SIZES

One of the major areas of concern of teachers in the sample was

that of class sizes.

Table XVII.

It was the third most popular response in

Class sizes certainly varied with the minimum being one student

in some senior classes and a maximum of forty-three in one fourth

37

form science class. It was disturbing to see how many junior science

classes in the sample were in the 35 - 40 range.

One interesting statistic is that of mean class size. In 1954

Searle arrived at a mean science class size of 23.l pupils , in 1965

Taylor produced a mean science class size of 23.0 and now in 1980 the

mean size is 23.3.

teacher/pupil ratio!

Twenty-six years and no improvement in the mean

TABLE XXI.

MEAN CLASS SIZE OF CLASSES IN SAMPLE.

Class. Mean Size. Number in Sample.

Form 7 Chemistry 11. 7 247

Form 6 Chemistry 18.3 367

Form 5 Chemistry 24.4 64

Form 7 Physics 11. 7 208

Form 6 Physics 19.1 340

Form 5 Physics 24,5 65

Form 7 Biology 12.7 279

Form 6 Biology 19.8 669

Form 5 Biology 22.5 331

Form 5 Science 25.5 1070

Form 4 Science 27 .2 1315

Form 3 Science 27.6 1387

38

Table XXI lists the mean class sizes of the classes in the

sample. Perhaps the comment many teachers would make is: "I seem to

teach a lot more students than that." It should be remembered that

there are many small or rural schools in the sample with very small

numbers of senior pupils. It is not, however, this end of the con-

tinuurn which is in need of immediate attention, but rather the end

where junior science classes are around 40 pupils. This is quite

unacceptable. No science teacher can adequately control, instruct

and carry out pupil experimentation safely and effectively with a class

of forty third or fourth formers. Principals would be hard pressed

to adequately justify science classes of this size, even if they do

have acute staff shortages.

The science teacher has difficulties which are unique. Every

subject has its special burdens: the technical teacher has his work­

shop, tools and materials to organise. Language and mathematics

teachers have much marking. English teachers have to correct long

essays. Art teachers have to store work and organise materials, and

protect much easily purloined and attractive equipment. The science

teacher fights his or her battle on many fronts simultaneously. There

is both the purchasing and the day to day distribution of apparatus

and consumables. Visual aids are important, and it takes time to make

and store them. Textbooks are often not suitable or even available,

and the teacher is forced to write study sheets. With the growth of

individualised learning, the construction of experiment worksheets is

almost a full-time job. Seldom is a laboratory entirely self­

sufficient, and equipment has continually to travel from one room to

another. Equipment repair is time-consuming. Due to the shortage of

staff, science classes are often over-large, and the teacher is under

even IDore pressure because the subject is more intellectually demanding

than some others and this does not improve pupil behaviour. Plenty

of suitable experimental work can help to minimise the problems, but

this in turn requires good equipment, technical assistance and non-con­

tact ti-me to allow the teacher to prepare for,and to clean up after,

each practical session.

39

CHAPTER 5.

THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT.

Many of the staffing problems experienced by science departments

result from the science departments themselves. If a new science

teacher enters a school where the science department lacks any cohesion,

where the teachers do their own 'thing', where there is no sharing of

ideas and resources, where there is no real leadership and help from

the H.O.D., where laboratories are scarce and poorly equipped, where

there is no ancillary assistance in the form of a laboratory technician,

where the 'better' classes are taken by senior science teachers and

where there are no efforts to improve the present schemes of work or

to try new methods of presenting the science cirriculum, then any

enthusiasm the new recruit may have had will be precipitated first as

confusion, then disillusionment and finally as a complete rejection of

science teaching as a career.

Many of the problems and frustrations science teachers face to-

day are major ones, but most are surmountable if he or she is a

member of a well-lead, co-operative, sharing, and concerned team of

science teachers who aim to make the best of the present situation, but

are intolerant of the suggestion that nothing can be done to improve it.

Thus, the morale of science departments is dependent to some ex­

tent on staffing shortages, but can also produce these staffing short­

ages.

The aim of this chapter is to look in more detail at the area of

staff shortages, to assess the av.ailability and types of relievers and

part-times available in science, to look at the availability of equip­

ment, aids and resources and finally to look at some subjective comments

made by H.O.Ds · of science.

STAFF SHORTAGES

One aim of the questionnaire that was completed by the H.O.Ds

was to determine the total number of class contact hours - per week,

that each school was short by.

TABLE XXII.

ACTUAL SHORTAGES, IN CLASS CONTACT HOURS (PER WEEK), OF SCIENCE TEACHERS.

Number of Total Number Schools. of Hours.

Boys, Private 2 6

Girls, Private 7 92

Co-ed, Private 4 72

Girls, State 7 167

Boys, State 8 66

Co-ed, State 42 620

F. 1-7 & D.H.S. 18 147

TOTAL 88 1170

Table XXII shows that 88 of the 271 schools in the sample have

actual shortages of science teachers. This amoun1s to a total of

1170 hours or 55 - 60 full~time science teachers. D.H.S. and F. 1-7

schools again have quite a large proportion of the shortages due

probably to their isolation and small numbers of senior students,

which often results in students without teachers.

One method of counteracting this deficiency of science teachers

40

is to recruit teachers from overseas. As can be seen from Table XXIII

below, the number of shortages would be twice the above value if the

54 science teachers from overseas had not been recruited.

TABLE XXIII.

TEACHERS RECRUITED FROM OVERSEAS DURING THE 12 MONTHS FROM SEPTEMBER 1979 TO SEPTEMBER 1980.

Number of Schools Total Number Recruiting. Recruits.

Boys, Private 4 5

Girls, Private 3 3

Co-ed, Private 2 3

Girls, State 2 3

Boys, State 3 3

Co-ed, State 22 35

F. l-7 & D.H.S. 2 2

TOTAL 38 54

Yet another method of counteracting the shortages of well

qualified, trained science teachers is to reduce science options

available to students. Whether this is an acceptable way of co£ing

with the situation is debatable. Its long term repercussions are

not necessarily easy to ascertain, however, there would also be

harmful effects to the student and to science if he were taught

science by a teacher who was not fully skilled in the methodology

of science. Science by its very nature, requires that the student

and teacher become directly involved in it. Without this direct

participation in the subject, what is being taught is not science,

but the facts or history of science.

TABLE XXIV.

RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION "ARE YOU HAVING TO REDUCE SCIENCE OPTIONS TO COUNTERACT SHORTAGES OF SCIENCE TEACHERS?"

Response. Number Percentage

Yes 30 11.0

No 227 83.8

No response 14 5.2

TOTAL 271 100.0

Table XXIV shows that 11% or 30 schools in the sample are having

to reduce science options. This is an area of concern and needs

more, in-depth, investigation to decide whether it is an acceptable

alternative for the principal who has problems staffing his science

department.

PART-TIMERS AND RELIEVERS,

Many schools find it hard to attract full-time science teachers,

but are able to employ part-time teachers e.g. the wives of farmers

in rural areas. These people do an excellent job and many, if not

most, are trained and well qualified, however, by the very nature of

their job they never become a full member of the science department

and so the science department suffers from fragmentation which places

more stress on the morale of the department.

41

TABLE XXV.

STAFF BY SEX, PRESENT TEACHING POSITION AND MARITAL STATUS.

Male Female

Full-time Married 852 (50.2) 296 (17.4)

Full-time Single 250 ( 14. 7) 147 ( 8 .6)

Part-time Married 29 ( 1. 7) 95 ( 5. 6)

Part-time Single 4 (0. 2) 12 (0. 7)

Notes (i) Missing Observations= 11.

(ii) Valu~in brackets are percentages of sample.

Table XXV shows that the actual percentage of part-timers is

tolerable at 9.1% of the sample.

67.9 % are married and female.

Of the 140 part-time teachers

Of equal importance to the principal and H.O.D. is the avail-

ability of relieving teachers. The prolonged illness of a science

teacher results in senior examination classes being left teacherless

unless relievers are available. In many areas relievers are almost

impossible to procure and to find one qualified in science is rare.

The lack of trained, well qualified relievers will not be solved

for a long time, unless falling rolls produce a large number of un­

employed science teachers - a state of affairs that this survey

suggests is not likely to occur for quite some time!

EQUIPMENT, AIDS AND RESOURCES

The availability of adequate, good equipment, teacher aids and

resources does two things: first it improves the lot of the

practising teacher, and hence morale, and second, it should improve

the quality of science instruction that students are getting.

Laboratories:

42

Table XXVI, on the next page, shows that just over three quarters

of the schools in the sample have adequate laboratories to allow all

science classes to use a laboratory for 75% of their science time.

It is apparent that state schools, especially Co-ed Schools, are

marginally better off than private schools. Again many H.O.Ds said

that their situation, with respect to laboratories, appeared better

than it had been in the past due to falling rolls.

TABLE XXVI

RESPONSE MADE TO THE QUESTION: "DO YOU HAVE ADEQUATE LABOR­ATORIES TO ALLOW ALL SCIENCE CLASSES TO USE A LABORATORY FOR

75 % OF THEIR SCIENCE TIME" BY SCHOOL TYPE,

( Percentages )

Boy s Girls Co-ed Boys Girls Co-ed D.H.S. & Total Respon se Private Private Private State State State F. 1-7. Overall.

Yes 65 65 67 67 78 83 74 76.6

No 35 35 33 33 22 17 26 23.4

100.0

Senior Studies rooms:

Most n ew schools are now being equipped with s e nior studies

blocks. These blocks usually contain senior laboratories e s p ecial ly

for form 6 and 7 Chemistry, Physics and Biology. There i s often

one or two small seminar rooms and a courtyard which can be used to

set up an aviary, animal pens and fish pond, if so desired. These

blocks are well equipped with quite sophisticated apparatus . Older

schools are able to apply for a senior s tudies modification to bring

the ir p r e s e nt laboratories up to a s tandard s imilar to t hose being

built in n ew schools.

TABLE XXVII

SCHOOLS WITH SENIOR STUDIES ROOM(S) FOR SCIENCE SUBJECTS BY SCHOOL TYPE.

Boys Girls Co-ed Boy s Girls Co-ed D.H.S. & Total. Private Private Private State State State F . 1-7.

Number l 0 l 4 7 42 3 64

(5.0) (0) ( 14. 3) ( 2 3 . 2) ( 30 . 4) ( 32 .1) ( 6. 5) (23.6)

Note: Figures in brackets are percentages of total sample.

Table XXVII lists the numbers of schools in the sample who have

43

such laboratories. It is understandable that the greatest proportion

of these are in Co-ed State Schools as this is the type of school that

is being built at present and hence the sort of school which is most

likely to have a senior studies block.

Audio-Visual Aids:

To most science teachers audiO'll'isual aids probably include: an

overhead projector, a slide projector, possibly a tape recorder and

the availability of a movie projector. A recent addition to the audio-

visual aids line up has been the closed circuit television with its

movie camera and film cassettes. This equipment can be used to record

television programmes of interest, to filmdissections or to keep on

record an interesting field trip. The total cost of this sort of

equipment is in the vicinity of $4,000 - $5,000 and can be paid for

by a Gala Day or from Old Pupils' bequests.

The overhead projector is a very popular aid used by many • teachers of science. It allows the teacher to prepare well in ad-

vance and frees him from the blackboard. Many excellent demon-

strations can be done on it e.g. electrolysis, magnetic fields and

oxidation state changes. The problem is one of easy access. If

a teacher wants to use an overhead projector then it must be readily

available. Too often a well prepared lesson of overhead projector

transparencies terminates very rapidly because someone else is using

the overhead projector. This only has to happen once or twice and

the science teacher will revert to more traditional 'talk and chalk'

methods of presentation.

The Department of Education produce a large number of very good

film strips and slides as do certain industries and teachers them-

selves. These need continual updating and should only be used at

the approp riate time and with the appropriate classes. Similar

comments hold for movies. The chemistry and physics movies, at

six form level, were very good, but most are twenty years old and

badly need updating.

TABLE XXVIII.

RESPONSES MADE TO THE QUESTION: "DO YOU HAVE ADEQUATE AUDIO VISUAL AIDS?" BY SCHOOL TYPE.

(P t ercen aqes

Response Boys Girls Co-ed Boys Girls Co-ed D.H.S. & Total Private Private Private State State State F. 1-7. Overall

Yes 75 89 86 67 78 71 80 75.3

No 25 11 14 33 22 29 20 24.7

100.0

44

As can be seen in Table XXVIII most schools are reasonably well

off for audio-visual aids. The interpretation of the word "adequate"

in the questionnaire may well make the picture seem1

blacker'than it

is. However, one or even two overhead projectors is not enough for

a science department of six or seven teachers. The ideal is, natur-

ally, one per classroom. Bulk government buying would result in

this not being an overly expensive project.

45

Many schools, especially the private ones, seem to be well

off in this area as government supplies of audio-visual equipment have

been supplemented using money from fund raising activities, old

pupils' bequests and donations. The main area of concern is for the

24.7% who did not have adequate audio-visual aids!

Teacher Aids;

Very few teachers of science would hesitate in agreeing that a

well trained laboratory technician is essential in any science de­

partment. They need not be full-time, but their availability for

a few hours a day makes life for the teacher of science much more

acceptable. While pupil laboratory monitors can do an excellent job

in keeping the laboratory tidy, moving gear from lab. to lab. and in

preparing simple experimental gear the laboratory technician is

needed to prepare standard solutions, make agar plates, do glass

blowing, mend electrical equipment and help in the ordering of new

equipment to name but a few tasks.

From Table XXIX on the following page it can be seen that only

189 schools (70 % of the sample) have a laboratory technician and

most of these are part-time and unqualified. Pupil laboratory moni­

tors are only used by 40% of the schools in the sample. Well

trained, conscientious lab. monitors can be a valuable asset to any

science department.

The availability of a remedial or accelerant teacher to help those

science students who are less able or who are particularly gifted is

extremely limited. This is an area that needs much more attention;

particularly where non-streaming of classes is practised. Individ-

ualised instruction programmes can help to cope with the differences

in ability and relevant past experiences of the students, but such

programmes require a lot of preparation and most science teachers

would simply not have the time available that is necessary to imple-

ment them. Perhaps a well organised science department could make

such a programme a group activity, where two or three teachers try

it initially with one class level and expand the project from there,

BUT more time, more preparation, more meetings and still five other

classes to teach!

Meetings:

Communication problems can be a major factor in creating poor

morale. The need for formal and informal meetings to keep everyone

\.0

""'

Boys Private

Girls Private

Co-ed Private

Boys State

Girls State

Co-ed State

D.H.S. & F. 1-7.

TOTAL

TABLE XXI X

TEACHER AIDS BY SCHOOL TYPE.

Laboratory Technicians Lab Monitors. Remedial Teacher Accelerant Teacher

Qualifie d Qualified Unqualified Unqualifie d Paid. Unp aid Full- Part- Full-Full- time Part-time Full-time Part-time Time. Time.

1

2

1

11

15

Notes:

2 6 7 1

4 6 1 11 1

2 1 1

7 7 4 5 1 1

10 1 2 3 9 2

29 7 60 21 51 8 16

6 1 8 2 5 2

58 7 109 33 89 11 22

(1) Entry in e ach unit is the total n wnber of schools which have one or more

of these forms of t e acher aids .

(2) "Qualified" for laboratory t e chnicians is taken to mean, at least,

N.Z.C.S. or equivalent.

Time.

1

1

4

1

7

Part-Time.

1

1

1

7

1

11

in touch with what is happening, to allow a sharing of ideas and to

create a feeling of unity is most important.

TABLE XXX.

FREQUENCY OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT MEETINGS IN SCHOOLS OF SAMPLE.

Frequency of Meetings Number Percentage

Daily 12 4.4

Weekly 27 10.0

Fortnightly 22 8.1

Every three weeks 22 8.1

Monthly 87 32 .1

Bi-monthly 25 9.2

Once a term 59 21.8

Bi-annually 5 1.8

No response 12 4.4

TOTAL 271 100.0

Table XXX shows that there is a great diversity in the number

of formal science department meetings held. The most common is a

monthly meeting. This is probably adequate in a well organised

science department provided there are other informal meetings of

specialist area teachers as well.

SOME COMMENTS FROM THE HEADS OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS.

The latter sections of the questionnaire,filled out by the

H.O.D., aimed to assess the subjective "gut feelings" that these

people had about science teaching and about their department.

The following four tables give, in detail, the frequency of the

responses made .

47

TABLE XXXI.

STAI'FING SITUATION IN SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS OF NEW ZEALAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS , AS PERCEIVED BY TIIE H .0. D. SCJF.NCE , BY

SCHOOL •rYPE.

Boys Girl s Co-ed Boys Girls Co-ed D.H.S . & Private Private Priva te State State State F .1-7.

Excellen t 1 1 6 2

(5.0) ( 3 . 8 ) ( 4 . 8) ( 4. 3 )

Good 6 4 1 3 17 4

(30 . 0 ) ( 15. 4 ) ( 16 . 7) (13. 0 ) (13 . 6) ( 8 . 7 )

Sati s fact '-- 8 8 1 6 10 43 1 8 ory

( 40 . 0 ) (30. 8 ) ( 16 . 7) ( 31. 3) ( 43 . 5) (34 . 4) ( 39 .1)

Poor 5 13 4 10 10 5 7 2 1

( 25 . 0) (50 . 0 ) (66 . 7) (55 . 6 ) (4 3 . 5 ) (45 .6) (45. 7)

Very bad 2 2 1

TOTAL

Note :

( 11. 1) ( 1. 6 ) ( 2 . 2 )

20 26 6 18 23 125 4 6

( i ) Number of mi ss i ng obse rvations 7

(ii ) Va lues in brackets a re percentages .

TABLE XXXII.

RESPONSES MADE TO THE QUES'rION : " AS A RESULT OF EFFORTS TO I MPROVE RE CRUITMENTS 7\ND RETENTION 'l'IIE FUTURE FOR SCIENCE

DEPAl<TMENTS IS .. " BY SCHOOL TYPE .

Boys Girls Co-ed Boys Girls Co-ed D. H. S.

48

TOTAL

1 0

( 3. 8 )

35

(13 . 3 )

94

(35 . 6 )

1 20

(45 . 5 )

5

( 1. 9 )

264

( 1 00 )

-, & TO'l'I\L

Private Private Privat e State State State F . 1-7. I Excellent

Good

Satisfactory

Poor

Very bad

TOTAL

1 1 1

(5 . 0 ) ( 4. 3) (0 . 8 )

4 1 1 2 12

(20;0) ( 3. 8 ) (5.6) ( 8 . 7) (9 . 7)

10 13 2 7 10 50

(5 0 .0) (50.0) ( 33 .3) (38.9) ( 43 . 5) (40.3 )

5 12 4 9 10 58

( 25.0) ( 46. 2) (66 . 7) ( 50 . 0) (43. 5) ( 47.6 )

1 2

(5 . 6) ( 1. 6)

20 26 6 18 23 124

(i) Number of missing observations = 8

(ii) Values in brackets are percentages.

3

( 1. 1)

8 28

(17.4) (10 .6 )

23 ll5

( 50 . 0 ) K43 . 7l

14 112

( 30. 4 ) (42. 6 )

1 4

( 2 . 2) (1. 5)

46 263

(10 0 . 0 )

TABLE XXXIII.

RESPONSES MADE BY THE H.O.D. SCIENCE TO THE QUESTION: "MORALE IN YOUR SCIENCE DEPARTMENT IS .... " BY SCHOOL TYPE.

Boys Girls Co-ed Boys Girls Co-ed D.H.S. Private Private Private State State State F. 1-7

Very high 4 3 2 1 2 13 6

(20.0) (11.5) (28.6) (5.6) ( 8. 7) (10.2) (13.6)

High 6 12 1 6 10 49 14

( 30. 0) (46. 2) (14. 3) (33. 3) (43.5) (38.6) ( 31. 8)

O.K. 9 10 3 10 10 58 21

(45. 0) (38.5) (42.9) (55.6) (43. 5) ( 45. 7) (47. 7)

Low 1 1 1 1 1 7 1

( 5. O) ( 3. 8) (14. 3) (5. 6) (4. 3) ( 5. 5) ( 2. 3)

Very low 2

TOTAL

( 4. 5)

20 26 7 18 23 127 44

TABLE XXXIV.

RESPONSES MADE BY THE H.O.D. SCIENCE TO THE QUESTION: "THE LEVEL OF PREPARATION AND THE TEACHING ABILITY OF LIST A TEACHERS AND THOSE ON SECTION HAS. OVER THE PAST

5 YEARS, IN GENERAL, " BY SCHOOL TYPE.

Boys Girls Co-ed Boys Girls Co-ed D.H.S.

&

&

Private Private Private State State State F. 1-7

Improved Dramaticall1

Improved Slightly

Remained the same

Declined slightly

Declined Dramatically

TOTAL

Note: --

2 1 1 7

( 8. 3) ( 14. 3) ( 4. 3) ( 5. 5)

4 6 1 8 6 34

(20. O) (25 .0) ( 14. 3) (44.4) ( 26 .1) (26. 8)

14 14 3 8 14 64

(70.0) (58. 3) (42.9) ( 44. 4) (60.9) (50.4)

2 2 2 2 2 19

(10.0) ( 8. 3) (28.6) (11.2) (8. 7) (15.0)

3 (2. 4)

20 24 7 18 23 127

(i) Number of missing observations = 9

(ii) Values in brackets are percentages.

7

( 16. 3)

33

( 76. 7)

3

( 7 .0)

43

49

TOTAL

31

( 11. 7)

98

(37.0)

121

( 45. 7)

13

(4.9)

2

(0. 8)

265

(100.0)

TOTAL

11

( 4. 2)

66

(25.2)

151

( 57. 3)

31

( 11. 8)

3 (1.0)

262

(100.0)

Perhaps what is most interesting is the general trend of each

table.

As perceived by H.O.Ds of Science:

(i) The staffing situation with respect to science teachers is

satisfactory to poor

(ii) The future for science departments is satisfactory to poor

(iii) Morale in science departments seems to be in the O.K. to

high range

(iv) The quality of list A teachers seems to have remained very

much the same over the past five years with only a slight

improvement suggested.

TABLE XXXV.

COMMENTS MADE BY HEADS OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS AT END OF QUESTIONNAIRE.

Comment

Hard to get and/or keep teachers

All is going well

More freedom in curriculum choice needed

More money needed for equipment

All is not going well

Need for more laboratory technician time

Science teachers are worst off of all teachers

Hard to get part-timers and relievers

Less class contact time needed

Problems of teacher movement between labs.

More labs. needed

Poorly designed labs.

Teachers becoming less professional

Fewer periods of science needed

Need extra P.R's in department

Too many teachers of science not qualified in science

Need local Science Teachers' Association

Too many administrative tasks

No comment made

TOTAL

Number Percentage

54 19.9

52 19 .2

16 5.9

15 5.5

12 4.4

9 3.3

8 3.0

3 1.1

3 1.1

2 0.7

2 0.7

2 0.7

1 0.4

1 0.4

1 0.4

1 0.4

1 0.4

1 0.4

87 32 .1

271 100.0

50

At the end of questionnaire one there was a space left for the

H.O.D. to make any comments that he or she wished to. Of the 271

in the sample 184 made some comment.

Table XXXV on the previous page.

These have been listed in

Again a wide variety of responses resulted. But no matter

how the question was phrased both H.O.Ds of science and teachers of

science see that less class contact time, more ancillary aid and

better facilities and equipment are essential if we are to improve

the staffing situation in secondary school science departments.

51

CHAPTER 6.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.

This chapter summarises the main findings of the project by

commenting on the hypotheses and aims of the project as outlined

in Chapter 1. Some of the implications of the findings are dis­

cussed in light of the findings that the study has produced.

This project looked at four main areas related to science

teaching in secondary schools namely: qualifications, conditions,

teacher shortages and salaries.

QUALIFICATIONS

"That the standard of tertiary qualifications held by

permanent science teachers teaching science has improved since the

1965 survey", was the first hypothesis that resulted from the

literature review.

The study showed that tertiary qualifications have improved

dramatically since 1965 especially in District High Schools and

F. 1-7 schools. The pe rcentage of teachers with incompleted

52

degrees or diplomas in these schools has dropped from 58.7% to 20 .5%.

There is now a much more even spread of well-qualified teachers

over the whole country. This was not the case in 1965 when urban,

university towns had much higher percentages of qualified science

teachers than other areas.

Only 13% of the sample have made any efforts to attain any

tertiary qualifications in Education, other than the Diploma in

Teaching course.

If teachers wish to achieve full professional status - which

they do not seem to have at the moment - then as professional

educators they need to be well-qualified in Education. Most

teachers have spent a minimum of three years achieving tertiary level,

subject qualifications, but spend very little time studying the

theories of teaching and learning, the processes of evaluation and

assessment, the theories of curriculum design and sociological

aspects of education. Here the Diploma in Education does an ex­

cellent job. Later on the teacher needs to study aspects of

educational administration and public relations if he moves out of

the classroom and into an administrative position. The Diploma in

53

Educational Administration is a very relevant qualification for

such people.

At present there are no study grants or paid leave to obtain

such qualifications. Study is usually done extramurally and

when completed there is no financial reward until one has been on

the top of the basic salary scale for five years. Thus, it is

strongly believed, by the researcher, that more positive incent­

ives should be given to teachers to improve their tertiary quali-

fications in Education. This could take the form of study grants,

paid study leave and immediate increases in salaries for those who

do complete a degree or diploma in Education.

86.5% of teachers have undergone some tertiary teacher train­

ing. As it is now a prerequisite that all new teachers are

trained, and that those who are not trained are financially penal­

ised, this percentage should increase considerably during the next

few years.

A second aim of the project was to obtain information about

the level of tertiary qualifications of those teachers of science

who are teaching senior science classes. The study showed that

teachers of F.6 and F.7 chemistry and biology classes are generally

very well-qualified with 73% having relevant tertiary qualifications

at the stage III level or higher. Physics teachers are generally

not as well-qualified with 35.1% of F.6 physics teachers having

stage I physics, or less, as their major physics qualification.

However, the percentage in all subjects, of teachers with no

university qualifications in the subject they are teaching is very

low (less than 4.7%).

Finally, in the area of qualifications and training the project

determined whether, as perceived by the H.O.Ds, there has been an

improvement in the level of training and the teaching ability of

teachers in training (i.e. those on section and List A teachers)

during the past five years. The information obtained showed that

57.6% of H.O.Ds felt that there had been no change during this time

while 25.6% felt that there had been a slight improvement. A

much smaller number felt that the teaching ability and level of

training had declined slightly. Many commented on the excellent

training and teaching ability of teachers recruited from Australia.

The fact that some H.O.Ds made this comment suggests that we may

need to look at our own Teachers' College programmes in relation

to what is being done in Australian Teachers' Colleges.

CONDITIONS:

The next group of aims of the project were included to

obtain information about the conditions under which teachers were

operating. It is very easy to use statistics to make all appear

well. What should be pointed out is that while 76.6% of the

schools may have adequate laboratories, say, there are 23.4%

who haven't. It is this latter group of sixty-three schools

that warrant concern.

The teacher of science who is about to choose a school in

which to teach has a 23% chance of choosing a school with inade­

quate laboratories, and a 25% chance of choosing a school with in­

adequate audio-visual aids. He will be teaching anything from one

to forty-three students in his classes and will probably teach for

22 out of a possible 25 hours per week. He has only a 24% chance

of teaching his senior science classes in a senior studies block.

There is a 31% chance that he will not have any technician assist­

ance to help him prepare and tidy away laboratory equipment. He

54

is entering a system where most H.O.Ds are tending to be pessimistic

about the future for science departments. The colleagues he works

with will probably be well trained, well qualified, subject special­

ists, 35% of whom are not happy with their present situation, as

secondary school science teachers. Thus, it can be seen that in

many schools considerable improvements are needed.

There were four main things that teachers of science felt were

most needed to improve their professional activities. These four

improvements were chosen by 65% of the sample. In order they were:

(i) Less class contact time

(ii) Better equipment, facilities and textbooks

(iii) Lower teacher/pupil ratios

(iv) Additional technician assistance

An improvement in each of these would free the teacher to

improve his courses of work and be better prepared for each lesson.

These, in turn, improve his classroom discipline. The result

would certainly be an improvement in the retention of well-quali­

fied, well-trained science teachers.

In the area of t e acher/pupil ratios it was predictably found

that the mean class sizes increased from form 7 classes down to

form 3 classes. The mean class size at form 7 level was around 12,

at form 6 level around 19, at form 5 level around 25 and at form 3

and 4 level around 27-28.

The mean over-all size of a science class in the sample was

23.2 which compares with a 1954 value of 23.1 and a 1965 value of

23.0. No noticeable change in twenty six years! The range of

class sizes was 1 to 43.

As perceived by H.O.Ds most science departments appeared to be

in good spirits. Only 15 H.O.Ds (5.7% of the sample) felt that

the morale in their science departments was less than O.K., while

132 (48.7%) felt that the morale in the department was high or very

high.

TEACHER SHORTAGES:

A third aim of the survey was to determine whether there was

a shortage of scie nce teachers.

Of the 2 71 s chools in the sample (68% of the p op ulation)

there was a total shortage of 1170 class contact hours per week.

This means that there is a shortage of 53-59 List B teachers in the

science departments of the sample.

The situation would be 100% worse if the 54 overseas teachers

had not been recruited during the year.

From the schools of the sample a total of 347 science teachers

left science teaching during the year October 1979 to October 1980.

This extrapolates to 496 for the population. Of those who left

teaching an unexpectedly low 7.8% of those leaving went to industry.

Most left to go overseas, but not to teach (27%). The variety of

jobs to which science teachers went was very diverse as can be seen

in Table xx.

One method of remedying the situation of a lack of full time

science teachers is to employ part-time teachers. Of the sample,

76% of the part-time teachers were female. The majority of part­

time teachers of science were married and female (67.9%). No

statistics were produced to assess the qualifications or level of

training of these part-time teachers - an area that warrants further

study.

55

SALARIES

The fourth major aim of the survey was to attempt to determine

whether science teachers have lost salary relativity with other

professions having similar qualifications.

Statistics available from the P.P.T.A. showed that teachers'

salaries were behind other professions with similar qualifications.

However, improvements had resulted from the salary increases that

occurred early in 1980. The 1980 N.Z.I.C. Annual Salary Survey

showed that school teachers are in the lower income group of the

chemists sampled in their survey. It is probable that physicists

and biologists with their very marketable qualifications would be

in a similar, if not worse, situation.

It appears then that the morale, conditions and salaries of

teachers of science have improved since 1965. Science teachers

are now better qualified and most are trained. However, the

conditions under which they work are far from ideal, and this may,

in part, be responsible for the relatively large number of science

teachers leaving the teaching profession (20 % of the sample).

There are two main factors which will determine the success

of recruitment and retention of science teachers in the future:

salaries and conditions.

The P.P.T.A. do an excellent job in the area of salary

negotiations and are well aware of the need for increases in the

basic scale, more steps at the top of this scale, removal of the

country service bar, the poor return for P.R. positions and the

need for a Master Teacher scale, to name but a few. Salary claims

must be vetted by many Government Departments. Progress is slow,

claims are seldom fully met and consequently teachers become frus­

trated and disillusioned. Positive financial incentives are

needed for those at the top of the basic scale who do not wish to

be promoted out of the classroom and into administrative positions.

There is a need for innnediate financial rewards for those who im­

prove their professional qualifications and some financial assist­

ance for those involved in extra-curricular activities. The area

of relativity, though difficult to assess,also needs attention.

Highest on the list of improvements to conditions is that of

less class contact time. Six classes, three non-contact periods

per week, and no ancillary assistance is taxing to say the least.

56

•

A minimum of one non-contact period per day is reconunended as

essential for any full-time teacher of science ,

Insufficient and unsatisfactory apparatus fails to develop

manipulative skills and full understanding. This must handicap

advanced studies, and in the event of these pupils entering

science teaching they will be hindered by lack of practical skill.

A vicious circle may be set up.

New Zealand has a particular problem in that its population

is not big enough to support a thriving science apparatus industry

and we must necessarily import much from overseas. The expense of

freight and the import licence system allows for massive increases

in costs. Much equipment must be bought by catalogue without in­

spection.

A report produced by Mr. R.A. Hoare, Science Equipment Advis­

ory Committee, Dept. of Education, 1978 suggested the following:

(a) Cost saving by bulk purchase of basic items by consortia of

schools or a central purchasing agency.

(b) Production of kits for assembly by schools. This approach

was used in the American PSSC Physics scheme, but was only

partly successful, because of the inferior design sometimes

used.

(c) Manufacture of basic items by a small equipment unit, operated

by the Department of Education. Many parts, of course, would

need to be bought in from commercial firms.

(d) Manufacture of equipment to specifications issued by the equip-

ment unit, by tender from local firms. The tender system has

been in force for some years for a limited variety of apparatus,

and is generally satisfactory.

(e) To guide science teachers, items offered on the conunercial

market should be regularly assessed, rather in the manner of the

Consumers' Institute.

schools.

Regular information would be sent to

(f) The provision of adequate technician support is vital. The

average New Zealand school has about one-quarter of the

technician-hours that British schools enjoy- and the latter are

not content with their level of assistance.

(g) Redistribution of .scientific apparatus no longer needed by

higher education or by industry.

more advanced classes.

This is of use mainly to

57

(h) Allocation of more time to staff to allow making and maintenance

of equipment. This would of course make the staff shortage

more acute for a time - but would tend to retain teachers and

break the 'vicious circle'.

(i) There must be opportunity for science staff and technicians to

learn a range of constructional skills, and familiarise them-

selves with modern methods. This is especially necessary for

58

teachers in country areas, who are cut off from the cross­

fertilisation of ideas which city teachers enjoy. The Inspect­

orate do take some part in this, but it is impossible for them

to have great influence because their main commitment is in

another direction and their visits infrequent and without

equipment. It is amazing that though (in Auckland) there are

four Science Advisers for the Primary Service, there is no

permanent full-time adviser for secondary science in the whole

country".

Class sizes seem to have changed little over nearly three

decades and the range of class sizes is large. With the previous-

ly mentioned strains that a science teacher has in a practical

laboratory session it is fair to say that he cannot control, advise

and effectively teach experimental skills to thirty or forty junior

students. Science teachers should insist on a maximum allowable

class size of 20-25 pupils at all levels.

Government money would be well spent in training more labor­

atory technicians. With large numbers of quite well-qualified

young people being unemployed this could be one way of (a) giving

them a meaningful occupation and (b) helping to reduce the stresses

that so many science teachers are experiencing due tofre-avyworkloads.

The cost involved in training a laboratory technician would be sub­

stantially less than the $100,000 to train science teachers who,

because of the poor conditions,leave teaching.

Curriculum change must always be an ongoing process so that

what is taught is relevant to the technology and needs of society.

The F.5 Chemistry syllabus which has remained unchanged since the

1940's is but one example of the lack of ongoing, updating and

modification. Professor B.R. Penfold, Subject Convenor for the

Sixth Form Chemistry Syllabus Committee commented in his 1980 re­

port that" ... teachers find themselves under great pressure in

attempting to cover adequately all topics in the time available

to them ...... and the difficulties have increased in the few

years since the present prescriptions were drawn up because of the

more diverse clientele".

Curricula must be adapted to cater for the present and future

needs both of the individual and the scientific community in which

he will operate.

59

Science education in the future will need to move from an

emphasis on academic excellence in the physical sciences to more

emphasis on the technological and applied sciences. But perhaps

most importantly there will be a need for students to have a deeper

understanding of the Social and b iological Sciences, so that the

student can learn to cope with the stresses imposed by ever increas­

ing technological advances. These will produce redundancy, many

changes of occupation during a life-span, plenty (too much?)

leisure time, and associated social, psychological and physical

problems will result.

Science students will need to address themselves more and

more to the already critical state of pollution, lack of energy

resources and psychological health problems. More emphasis will

be needed on the control and dispersement of population, industry

and food resources. These problems will be addressed to the pure,

applied and social scientist, the economist, politician, health

authority and, of course, the science educator.

Thus, the 1980's and 90's will bring to science education a

revolution similar to that imposed on science education in the

western world by the launching of the Russian spacecraft 'Sputnik'

in the late 1950's.

New courses, new classroom materials and new teaching tech­

niques will all be needed to educate science students as we move

into the latter part of the twentieth century.

60

APPEtlDIX A

Covering letter

FEILDING AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL:

B . H . KERR , M.SC., DIP. ED. TELEPHONE 34 029 •

ATTENTION HEAD OF DEPARTMENT SCIENCE

Dear S.ir/Madarn,

CHURCHER STREET,

FEILOING, N .Z .

l August 1980

Over the past few years there have been many conflicting reports about the state of Science teaching with respect to staffing shortages, conditions and salaries. Thus, I am doing a survey of 11 The Staffing Situation, with re s pect to Science teachers , in New Zealand Secondary Schools" . The survey, which is being sent to all secondary schools, has the approval of the Department of Education, the Post-Primary Teachers 1 Association and Masse y University.

The findings of the survey, which will be of interest to all of us as Science teachers, will be made available in due course.

Attached are t ~o different questionnaires. One is to be filled i n by you as Head of Science , the other is to be filled in by all teacher s who Le ach one or more Science classes. Please include yourself and 2:1y pa-rt-time tenchcrs in this second category .

Would you then please. collect in all the forms and send them to me in the enclosed,stamped,addressed envelope .

Th ank you for your co-operation.

Yours faithfully,

TONY GE , ITSEN SCIENCE DEPARTMENT 'f.T:n:c : MML

Encl :

APPENDIX B

Questionnaire forms:

(i) Sheet l

(ii) Sheet 2

SCIENCE TEACHER SURVEY 1980

Sheet 1

63

For Office Use Only.

This sheet is to be completed by the HEAD OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT only. All replies to this questionnaire will be STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.

1. Name of School, in full

2. Number of Science Staff in your Department

Full-time

Part-time

3. Science Staff leaving your department during the past 12 months.

Notes.

(i) This does not include staff who have transferred to another secondary school in New Zealand.

(ii) "Past 12 months" is to be back dated from time of filling out this questionnaire.

(iii) "Another area of teaching" is taken to mean University, Primary, Training College, Technical Institute, Departmental Inspector, non teaching Principal, Guidance Couns e llor e tc.

REASON FOR LEAVING

(a) To teach overseas

(b) Overseas, but not to teach

(c) Gone to industry

(d) To another area of teaching

(e) To bring up a family

(f) To a job not mentioned above

Specify

(g) Other

Specify

NUMBER

1

2-4 5 6

7-8

9-10

11-12

13-14

15-16

17-18

19-20

21-22

23-24

25-26

- 2 -

4. Action being taken to counteract shortages in your department of well-qualified science teachers.

PART A

Please indicate the number of hours of class contact time per week for which this form of action has had to be taken. (e.g. if 1 class of Form 7 Chemistry and 1 class of Form 5 Physics are on correspondence this would be 8 hours)

N.B. Please only indicate if due to an actual shortage of teachers i.e. not because it is more expedient time­table wise, or because numbers are very small etc.

(a) Classes out of normal school time

(b) Staff losing non-contact time to teach classes that would otherwise be teacherless

Contact Hours

(c) Teachers without appropriate tertiary qualifications teaching science

(d) Neighbouring schools combining senior science classes

(e) Science subjects being taught by correspondence

(f) Form 6 & 7 being combined

(g) Others Specify

PART B

(a) Are you having to reduce science options? Yes

No

(b) How many science teachers has your school recruited from overseas in the past year?

Number ------------5. ACTUAL SHORTAGES OF SCIENCE TEACHERS

Include all shortages whether or not they are being covered by action mentioned above. (A "teacher hour" means one hour of actual class contact time. Please convert period length to hours and sumrnate to nearest whole hour if necessary).

Number of Teacher Hours Short

For Office Use Only

27-29

30-32

33-35

36-38

39-41

42-44

45-47

48

49-50

51-53

64

- 3 -

6. TEACHER AIDS IN YOUR DEPARTMENT Please indicate number

(a) Lab Technician (s)

Full-time qualified

Full-time unqualified

Part-time qualified

Part-time unqualified

NUMBER

(N.B. qualified means N.Z.C.S. or equivalent)

(b) Lab Monitor(s)

Paid

Unpaid

(c) Remedial Teacher(s)

Full-time

Part-time

(d) Teacher(s) responsible for accelerant work

Full-time

Part-time

(e) Science Resource room(s)

(f) Senior Studies Room(s) for science subjects

(g) Do you have adequate laboratories to allow all science classes to use a laboratory for 75% of their science time?

Yes

No

(h) Do you have adequate Audio .. visual aids

For Office Use Only

54

55

56

57

58-59

60-61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

(e.g. overhead projectors, slide projectors etc.)?

Yes

No

7. PLEASE TICK YOUR DESIRED RESPONSE

(a) The staffing situation, with respect to science teachers in N.Z. secondary schools is

Excellent

Good

Satisfactory

Poor

Very bad

69

70

65

- 4 -

(b) As a result of efforts to improve recruitments and retention the future for science departments seems

Excellent

Good

Satisfactory

Poor

Very bad

(c) Morale in your science department is

Very high

High

O.K.

Low

Very low

(d) The level of preparation and the teaching ability of List A teachers and those on section has, over the past 5 years, in general,

Improved dramatically

Improved slightly

Remained the same

Declined slightly

Declined dramatically

(e) Please indicate how frequently you have a science department meeting. (e.g. annually, once a term, weekly etc.)

Daily

Fortnightly

Monthly

Once a term

Weekly

Every 3 weeks

Bi-monthly

Bi-annually

8. Please make any comments at all concerning the staffing situation in your science department, or on any aspect of science teaching at all.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

66

For Office Use Only

71

72

73

74-75

76-77

SCIENCE TEACHER SURVEY 1980 For Office Use Only

Sheet 2

This sheet is to be answered by any person who teaches 1 one or more science classes. 2-4

1.

2.

Sex (Please tick appropriate box) Male ( ) Female ( )

Present Position Full~time Part-time

3. Marital Status Married Single

4. Completed years of teaching service

_____________ years

5. Write down all your tertiary qualifications includ­ing degree(s), diploma(s) and certificate(s) (e.g. B.Sc., Dip. Ed. etc.) N.B. 1. Please suggest N.Z. equivalent in

brackets if appropriate.

2. If your degree is short b y 1 unit or 3 papers please write B.Sc. (incom.) etc.

3. Please put an asterisk next to any degree containing science. (e.g. B.Sc.* M.A.*) .

6. Highest relevant qualifications in Chemistry, Physics and Biology. Please use stages rather papers for tertiary qual­ifications. Your highest relevant qualification may be Teachers' College Science or School Science. (e.g. Chem. III, Teachers' College Physics course, School Certificate Biology, 1st Class Honours Chem­istry etc.)

CHEMISTRY

PHYSICS

BIOLOGY

7. What is your major teaching area?

5 6

7

8

9

10-11

12-13

14-15

16-17

18-19

20-21

22-23

24-25

67

-2-

8. Classes taught and numbers in each class.

9.

(e.g. Form 3 Science 28.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Form 7 Chemistry 16. etc.)

CLASS NUMBER OF STUDENTS

Formal Teacher Training (Please tick) Secondary ( ) Primary ( ) None ( ) Other (specify) ________ (4)

10. How many inservice courses have you attended over the past TWO years?

For Office Use Only

26-29

30-33

34-37

38-41

42-45

46-49

50-53

54-57

58

Residential ___________ 59-60

11.

12.

One day courses

In school courses

Are you a member of a local Science Teachers' Association? (Please tick)

Yes ( ) No ( )

Are you happy with your present salary? Yes ( ) No ( )

If no please state why

13. Excluding salary conditions are you reasonably happy with your present situation as a post-primary science teacher?

Yes No

If no please state why

14. Name the one thing you would most like to see take place to improve your job as a teacher of science.

61-62

63-64

65

66

67-68

69

70-71

72-73

68

69.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

B6700 User Handbook, Massey University Computer Centre, March 1980.

Coles, D.A., The Coles Report, Wellington, Govt. Print., 1976.

Davies, C.R., A Look at some of the problems facing the Secondary Department of District High Schools, Thesis, Dip. Ed. Massey University, 1970.

Directory of Secondary Schools and Technical Institutes, 1979, Educational Services Section, Department of Education, Wellington, Govt. Print., 1979, 37 p.

Exodus: the story of 1979, P.P.T.A. News, Vol. 1, No. 4, March 1980, p. 1.

Fox, D.J., The Research Process in Education 1st Ed. Holt, Rhine­hart and Winston, Inc. 1969. 758 p.

Gainsford, G.J. and W.A. Singers. The 1978 N.Z.I.C. Salary Survey, Chemistry in New Zealand, Vol. 42, No. 26, 1978.

Gainsford, G.H. and W.A. Singers. The 1980 N.Z.I.C. Salary Survey, Chemistry in New Zealand, Vol. 44, No. 4, p. 133-139, 1980.

Hoare, R.A., Report for Science Equipment Advisory Committee, Dept. of Ed., Manurewa, 1978.

Jeffcott, R.W.L. Preferred Teaching Styles of Sixth and Seventh Formers: Rural and Urban, and Science and Human­ities comparisons, Thesis, Dip. Ed. Massey Un i versity , 1974.

Kuhn, T.S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1962.

N.Z. Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, Nov. 1976. Wright and Carman Ltd., 1976.

New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers' Association, Annual Report 1978-1979, P.P.T.A. Journal, October 1979.

New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers' Association (Registered), Annual Report 1979-1980, P.P.T.A. Journal, October 1980.

Penfold, B.R., Report of Convenor of Sixth Form Syllabus Committee, Canterbury University, 1979.

Porter, J.B., Survey of Teachers from the United Kingdom who have been recruited to Secondary Schools in New Zealand, Thesis, Dip. Ed., Massey University, 1973.

Pressing for new directives, P.P.T.A. News, Vol. 1, No. 8, June 1980, p.3.

Roth, H., A Bibliography of New Zealand Education, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 1964, 233 p.

Searle, E.J. The Teaching of Science in Post-Primary Schools, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 1958, 259 p.

Staffing Crisis, P.P.T.A. News, Vol. 1, No. 3, March 1980, p. 1-2.

Taylor, O., The Staffing of Science Departments of New Zealand Secondary Schools, Thesis, Dip. Ed., Massey Univers­ity, 1965.

The Minister's Address, P.P.T.A. Journal, October 1979, p. 20-22.

Webster, B. The Eighties - a decade of challenge, P.P.T.A. News, Vol. 1, No. 2, February 1980, p. 7.

70